

Instacart launches Express – Amazon Prime for Groceries - apoorvamehta
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/07/growing-35-monthly-instacart-introduces-express-its-amazon-prime-equivalent-for-grocery-delivery/

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gergles
It's just like Amazon Prime, except all the prices on Amazon aren't inflated
by a ludicrous markup when compared to other online stores. (On top of a
delivery fee or annual subscription.)

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stephengillie
This is probably partly due to Amazon's policy that the price you charge on
their site is the lowest price you charge anywhere, for each item.

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jmduke
_Mehta, in a call with TechCrunch, stated that simply tacking on new cities to
his company’s service doesn’t, in a sense, prove much; that’s just hiring._

I think the whole idea behind geographic expansion is that it proves more
people are willing to pay for service X or Y than just those living in the Bay
Area, who are perhaps the most amenable cross-section of the country for a
service like this.

(Not advocating expansion for expansion's sake -- I think Instacart is making
a wise choice -- but saying "It's just hiring" is disingenuous.)

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rdl
New York is probably even stronger than the Bay Area for this kind of service,
but there are entrenched competitors there.

College campuses, big industrial parks, and maybe military bases would be my
next pick after NYC and SFBA. Another interesting market might be events --
during Sturgis, or Oshkosh, or other vents, running something like Instacart
would work, while it wouldn't work in the same towns otherwise.

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MattLaroche
Instacart is a neat concept, but knowing that they charge more on items than
the store charges irritates me enough that I don't use it.

I'd rather pay a clear delivery fee and not feel that I'm paying extra for
every item than have free delivery but a mark -up on every item. I know that
financially it might come out to the same thing, but psychologically I get
annoyed that they charge me $4.99 when Trader Joe's charges $3.99.

I'm hoping they hit the scale where they can take some of their margin from
the store (Trader Joe's specifically). Instacart Plus is a step in the right
direction there.

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minimaxir
_In testing, Express members ordered from Instacart, again according to Mehta,
two or three times weekly. The caveat to the Express deal is that delivery is
only free on orders over $35._

So Express members are spending $70-105+ per week on groceries? I guess
Instacart must be a hit with families.

For those kinds of users who spend $280-$420 per month on groceries, $99/year
is relatively small.

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jmduke
Napkin math is saying that you'd only have to purchase thirteen orders a year
(13 * 7.99 = roughly 104) at above $35 each to recoup your investment. Even
for someone living alone, that's very easy to do.

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MaxGabriel
All of my Instacart orders have cost $3.99 in shipping -- and that's for a
shopper living alone whose office provides meals on weekdays.

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ultimoo
"We deliver in the San Francisco Bay Area"

 _I enter a Zipcode from downtown San Jose_

"Bummer! We don't deliver there... yet!"

So typical. Nothing cool ever works in San Jose. :-(

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colmvp
Number of NHL teams in SJ: 1.

Number of NHL teams in SF: 0.

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count
Isn't AmazonFresh Amazon Prime for Groceries?

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libria
No; did you read the article? AmazonFresh does not offer benefits at a yearly
fee similar to Prime. The closest thing it has to that is extra benefits for
those who purchase $300 in a certain time frame (Big Radish).

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username_9999
I wish Instacart had delivery in my city. Oh well. You can always order
groceries from Amazon, although its limited.

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periferral
i don't get this. For me, instacart delivery has always been free on orders
over $35. What does express buy me?

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baddox
Perhaps you're in the express beta the article mentioned? I used Instacart a
few times, and always had to pay the delivery fee unless they sent out a
newsletter offering free delivery for one day for orders over ~$80 (which
seems to happen a lot).

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messick
The author of this piece doesn't seem to know much about Amazon's product
offerings. Prime is free 2 day shipping along with some free video streaming.
Fresh is the Grocery delivery service.

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dangrossman
Prime is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from Amazon, and
Express is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from
Instacart. Offering such a subscription had a positive impact on revenue-per-
customer for Amazon, and Instacart may benefit from the same. The author seems
to have made a fine analogy to me, and the fact that Amazon also has a
separate grocery delivery service is completely tangential to his point.

