CINCINNATI, OH & SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Instacart is quite the partner to have in your network. With the company seeing explosive growth, it has entered a plethora of grocery partnerships in the last few years, and Kroger has been at the forefront of several of them. The two are doubling down on their alliance by launching Kroger Delivery Now, which is powered by a virtual convenience store to provide consumers with fresh groceries in as fast as 30 minutes.

"Kroger Delivery Now is a differentiated solution in the e-commerce industry, not just the grocery sector," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our new service provides customers with one more way to shop with us and addresses the importance of convenience and immediacy. Operationally, this service reaches up to 50 million households and it's an expansion of our thriving e-commerce model that demonstrates strategic interplay among our assets, expansive store network, supply chain, and dedicated fulfillment centers and fleet, joined by Instacart's unrivaled fulfillment model and last-mile technology to provide our customers with anything, anytime, anywhere without compromise."

Kroger Delivery Now does not require customers to make a trade-off on selection, quality, price, or speed, a press release explained. Its comprehensive offering of 25,000 items combines customer favorites with quick and easy doorstep delivery and is available to customers from early in the morning to late at night.

"Last year, Kroger achieved more than $10 billion in e-commerce sales, and we're committed to doubling both our digital sales and profitability rate by the end of 2023 and expect Kroger Delivery Now will help us reach that target," continued McMullen.

Convenience is reportedly one of Instacart’s top categories, with orders up more than 150 percent since May 2021. Demand for rapid delivery also continues to grow, with nearly 20 percent of customers selecting Priority Delivery at checkout today (an experience I am quite familiar with). Kroger's network of more than 2,700 stores helps create a first-of-its-kind virtual experience that makes faster delivery possible from all banners including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Fry's, Mariano's, and Smith's.

With the launch of Kroger Delivery Now, Instacart is also unveiling the Convenience Hub on the Instacart Marketplace, a new product experience that streamlines shopping for customers in nearly every major U.S. city.

"We're proud to expand our long-time, strategic partnership with Kroger and together unveil Kroger Delivery Now, an entirely new way for customers to access convenience delivery nationwide. Kroger Delivery Now, available only on Kroger.com and the Instacart Marketplace, reimagines the modern convenience store by leveraging the entire network of iconic Kroger Family of Stores brands to offer 30-minute delivery to customers for the first time nationwide," said Fidji Simo, Instacart's Chief Executive Officer. "Instacart has become a powerful retail enablement platform, and today's expansion of our Kroger partnership is another example of our commitment to develop new solutions that help retailers grow and meet the evolving needs of their businesses and customers."

Kroger and Instacart first partnered in 2017 and today offer two-hour grocery delivery and now 30-minute delivery nationwide. The companies expect to continue to partner and invest in new customer experiences to further enhance Kroger's e-commerce offering.

"Instacart is one of our strategic partners, and its industry-leading scale and ingenuity complements Kroger's best-in-class assets, digital strategy, and expanding seamless ecosystem, helping enable us to continue growing our business," continued McMullen. "Kroger Delivery Now reinforces our commitment to leading with fresh and accelerating with digital in an environment of increased and sustained customer expectations for fresh food on demand. This service is truly a gamechanger, and we're eager to continue leading the way by expanding our ecosystem and leveraging our complementary assets to deliver a seamless experience with our total network of assets, including enterprising and innovative last-mile solutions—today's true competitive horsepower—in the most scalable, sustainable, and profitable way to advance our business and create a consistent and rewarding customer experience whether they want groceries now or tomorrow."

I have a feeling these two are nowhere near done in their plans to tackle the e-commerce space, so stick with us.

Kroger