Instacart Says Smart Cart Gamification Features Make Shopping ‘an Adventure’

Instacart has added new gamification features to its smart carts, saying they will make grocery shopping “feel like an adventure” and encourage shoppers to earn rewards and credits, earn savings and discover new products.

Together with these features, the company has also added location-based coupons and aisle-aware advertising formats to its smart carts, Instacart said in a Monday (Oct. 7) press release.

“Caper Carts are ushering in a new era at the grocery store — making shopping more delightful while delivering a seamless experience for customers, retailers and brands,” David McIntosh, chief connected stores officer at Instacart, said in the release.

The interactive mini-games, which are dubbed “Quests,” will appear on the Caper Carts’ digital screens, according to the release. The Quests can be designed in partnership with retailers and brands. They could include flash deals, rewards for repeat visits and credits for clipping personalized digital coupons.

The location-based coupons that have been added to Caper Carts will enable the carts to alert shoppers to deals and discounts near their location in the store, the release said. For example, the cart could alert the customer about a coupon available for muffins as the shopper is walking through the bakery department.

A third new feature, aisle-aware ads, enables consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to deliver advertising when shoppers are rolling a Caper Cart through a relevant aisle, per the release. Instacart plans to expand upon this feature by also showcasing ads based on items shoppers have added to their cart.

“With Caper Cart’s digital screen, we’re now delivering an unmatched omnichannel experience for retailers and brands in-store,” McIntosh said in the release. “Today’s news is further proof of how we’re truly transforming grocery shopping from a chore to a fun adventure, giving customers a one-of-a-kind, interactive experience in every aisle of the grocery store.”

Merchants that have deployed Caper Carts have found that “people are seeking out stores” that offer the technology, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo said in a letter shared with investors in May.

“We made an early bet that smart carts would be the winning technology for transforming the in-store grocery experience because it’s a form factor people recognize and it doesn’t require retrofitting a whole store with large capex investments,” Simo said in the letter.