
Weeks after adding Trader Joe’s, Instacart now supports Whole Foods - apoorvamehta
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/02/27/weeks-after-adding-trader-joes-grocery-delivery-service-instacart-now-supports-whole-foods/?fromcat=all
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pg
Jessica grabbed me at the YC din last night and told me excitedly that she had
some good news. I was sort of hoping it would be something more exciting, but
it was that Instacart had added Whole Foods.

Instacart is one of those cos like HelloFax and Uber and Zappos (and Google
for that matter) that people spontaneously mention to their friends in
conversation: "You have to try it." That is a very good threshold for a
company to cross.

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yid
My girlfriend and I have been using Instacart for quite some time now.
Overall, the experience has been fantastic, mainly because of a bunch of free-
delivery offers. While I really, really hope they stick around (especially
with the addition of Whole Foods), almost every order has had some small
problem. Usually these are substitutions of the items I really wanted, but
occasionally we've gotten items that we didn't order. We weren't charged for
the extras, and their customer service is _absolutely_ top-notch. If anyone
from Instacart is reading: please be careful to maintain your quality
standards as you scale! I'm OK with the price premium and even delivery fees,
as long as it's backed up with the current level of service. Great job, and
good luck!

~~~
johnrob
Shopping is hard in general, but especially so when the list gets bigger. You
end up making more circles through the store and it's hard for the human brain
to validate that the 20 things in my cart are the same as the 20 items in the
list. As far as error prone-ness, this is on the level of matrix
multiplication ;)

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samatman
There's a use case for Google Glass right there. Amazon already has the
product recognition software problem fairly nailed. The person doing order
fulfilment simply holds the product at eye level before placing it in the
card, and it deletes from the list until there's nothing left.

Step two: integrate with inventory management so Glass tells the human where
to go. Step three, replace the human with a robot and the store with the local
distribution warehouse.

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alex_c
Don't need Google Glass for that, a smartphone is enough.

[http://www.designboom.com/technology/tesco-virtual-
supermark...](http://www.designboom.com/technology/tesco-virtual-supermarket-
in-a-subway-station/)

~~~
thezilch
Except for the not needing extra hands part...

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jonheller
What is the "slight margin" they add? 5%? 10%?

We have used Peapod a few times, a grocery delivery service here in the
Northeast serviced by Stop and Shop. I couldn't figure out how they offered it
so cheaply, as the prices are the same they are in stores. They charge
delivery ($7) though you can often get offer codes.

Then I found out that apparently orders are serviced from a separate
warehouse, where everything is categorized and optimized for online orders. It
makes sense -- I couldn't picture guys walking through the store collecting 10
carts worth of orders.

Unfortunately even though it was only slightly more pricey, it still added to
much to our household costs since groceries are such a huge part of a family's
budget (avg family of 4 spends $770/mo). Not to mention delivery added on to
the cost as well.

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tnorthcutt
_the prices are the same they are in stores_

 _even though it was only slightly more pricey_

Were the prices the same, or were they higher?

~~~
jonheller
The prices of the items themselves are the same. It's slightly more pricey due
to the delivery charge and tip.

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acgourley
Try marketing this to paleo dieters, but go a step further. The buyer sets a
budget and rough guidelines but otherwise instacart makes all the food
decisions. Real hunter gatherers didn't have a lot of choice in their meals!

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jff
Yes, let's base our business model on a niche fad diet.

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shanev
A diet we've been eating for 3 million years is a fad? Wow, I'd like to know
what you think of Italian food then, a nano fad?

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w1ntermute
Mankind did a lot of things for millions of years that we don't do anymore, so
I don't see how that's relevant.

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shanev
It's relevant because they were mostly disease free on that diet. We switched
our diet on a dime and now we're sick.

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w1ntermute
I have no idea what you're talking about. Disease is less prevalent now than
it has ever been in history. People live longer and better lives than ever
before.

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CoffeeDregs
>Disease is less prevalent now than it has ever been in history.

While I fault the parent for lack of nuance, I fault you for the same.
"Disease" is a complicated thing which has many dimensions. What you're
pointing out is that the low-hanging fruit are sorted and that's great! Parent
was saying [edit: I assume] that chronic diseases were less frequent and we
have epidemiological evidence that was the case.

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shanev
Who is Instacart's target market? Are people really too busy to go to the
grocery store and are willing to pay a premium for delivery? Amazon works
because their items are actually cheaper than retail. If Amazon items were
priced at a premium, few would use it. I personally enjoy grocery shopping.
It's a relaxing break from my day. I like picking out my own produce and cuts
of meat. I don't think it's something many people would be willing to
outsource.

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ebiester
People who don't have a car, mostly.

When I lived outside a big city, I didn't think twice at going a few miles to
the Trader Joes, even if I didn't need much. Right now, I'm in San Francisco
and without a car, and it's an event to go just about anywhere from where I
live, short of a small corner store.

~~~
ultimoo
You should try out ZipCar. I'm not pitching it against InstaCart, which will
prove to be cheaper for groceries, but more like a trip to Fry's or Ikea
maybe.

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sc0rb
Most of the big supermarkets in the UK have had this service for a while. I
use the ASDA (owned by Walmart) home grocery delivery every week and it's a
great service!

Tesco, Sainsburys and Iceland also offer this service. I've worked with two of
these supermarkets to build the ecommerce platform that powers this (as a Java
consultant).

I'm surprised this is exciting news in the US!

~~~
tomfakes
I first purchased groceries online in the UK in 1987 - using Prestel and a
1200/75 modem.

I'd guess that the French Minitel service had this available even earlier.

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rdl
This is awesome. I probably won't go to the grocery again.

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r00fus
I would love to use InstaCart. Their interface is leagues above what my
Safeway offers, and I'd love to get TJ/WF stuff as well.

Only issue - I'm out of their delivery range - I'm desperately waiting for
expansion.

~~~
jaggederest
Join the rest of the 99.9% of the world who don't have access.

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jdmaresco
I needed Advil today at my client site in Arizona and wished desperately that
I could use Instacart. Also wanted to buy my girl some simple flowers and get
them sent to her back home in L.A... FTD minimum for flowers is like $50 -
there are so many times I wish I could use this service... can't wait to see
how it takes off and expands to more products and areas.

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djcapelis
This leaked in their iPhone app update release notes a day or two ago. I was
surprised to see no one seemed to notice for a bit!

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whyenot
Nice work, this is really starting to get interesting! WebVan reborn, but with
better selection and hopefully a more sustainable business plan.
Unfortunately, I live in Los Altos Hills. Palo Alto and Mountain View are in
the coverage area, but as usual when it comes to delivery, we are not.

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fernly
Just tried it and the website had _extremely_ slow response in both Chrome and
Firefox. It would basically show the first line of pics and then go to a blank
window with small scroll thumb on the left (?why?) and never respond again.

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wonnage
I'd be interested to hear how well this works with produce. In the past I've
had qualms about using things like Safeway delivery - I'd end up with mushy
fruit and wilted vegetables.

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jff
A likely problem when you have the store itself doing the picking and
delivering is that they have a significant incentive to pick the worst produce
for you--the most bruised apples, the wilted-est lettuce--because it gets it
off the shelves. If you have a third party do the picking, you'd hope to get
indifference to quality at worst and careful selection at best.

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cadr
Congrats, Apoorva. Now, when is it coming to the East Bay? :)

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mbreese
East bay? How about just to Redwood City. I'd be happy with that :)

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sujithr
Instacart needs to team up with USPS. I am sure USPS wouldn't mind delivering
groceries instead of junk mails.

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eclipticplane
Every pack of tomatoes comes with a mortgage offer, car ads, "coupons", and a
pumpkin that was supposed to be delivered six houses down. Also, you don't get
your tomatoes.

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joonix
The economics don't work. Something like FreshDirect is a much more viable
business IMO.

~~~
rdl
IMO even if they make a slight loss on deliveries, there are other ways to add
more monetization, so it's probably worth just winning the market first.

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salman89
Good product/market fit I think.

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newnewnew
Does anybody know which regulation they are running into on alcohol delivery?

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HorizonXP
See here for the comment thread about that issue, including the article
providing more details.

Also read the comments for pg's epic opinion about Instacart. pg-approved!

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4907108>

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hakaaaaak
Only SF and Mountain View/Palo Alto. That's not helpful to me unfortunately.

