Today in Food Commerce: Instacart Launches New Categories; Dunkin’ Opens Digital-Only Co-Branded Store

Today in food commerce, Instacart extends well beyond the grocery category, while grocery retailers struggle with the economic challenges of consumers’ shift to smaller, more frequent online purchases. Plus, Dunkin’ opens a digital-orders-only location.

Instacart Diversifies to Hold Onto Its Customers Amid Increasing eGrocery Competition

Where in early 2020 Instacart was the clear go-to for consumers looking to order from their preferred grocer online for curbside pickup or delivery, today the landscape has shifted. Leading restaurant aggregators, including DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub, are rapidly expanding their grocery offerings, and grocers have built out their in-house fulfillment capabilities.

Now, Instacart is looking to offer more value from its network of pickers and drivers, diversifying beyond the grocery category.

Restaurant Roundup: Dunkin’ Opens Digital-Only Co-Branded Location with Jimmy John’s

For Dunkin’ parent company Inspire Brands, co-branded locations are not a new concept. The firm, which also owns Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Sonic, among others, has been opening joint Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins locations for years. Now, it is trying out a new combination. On Tuesday (Feb. 22), Inspire Brands announced the opening of the first co-branded Dunkin’ and Jimmy Johns location, a small-format store within the lobby of a support center in Sandy Springs, Georgia, that only accepts orders placed online or through the brands’ mobile apps.

Grocers Grapple with the Economics of Fulfilling Smaller, More Frequent Digital Orders

The majority of consumers may continue to prefer shopping for groceries in stores to shopping online, but those who have adopted eGrocery options are integrating the channel into their regular routines, shopping more often.

This shift poses challenges for grocers, with smaller purchases leading to trickier unit economics, but it also creates an opportunity to build deeper and more lasting relationships with customers as their overall spending on online grocery increases.

“We’re now starting to see people going away from their traditional weekly shop to more of a periodic shop. …. Smaller baskets more frequently is the fundamental change that we see within eGrocery,” Kevin Price, senior consultant at multinational logistics automation company Swisslog, told PYMNTS in an interview.