Albertsons teams with Instacart to offer one-hour delivery

Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. is expanding its delivery footprint by teaming with Instacart to offer same-day delivery to customers at about 1,800 locations, the retailer announced Tuesday.

Instacart’s third-party delivery service will enable Albertsons’ customers to receive grocery orders in as little as an hour and is slated to be available at all participating stores by mid-2018.

Albertsons will continue to offer its current, in-house delivery programs as well, which also includes same-day service. Store pickup is also an option for Albertsons shoppers.

Instacart is based in San Francisco and deploys personal shoppers who fill digital orders at grocery locations and deliver them to customers.

Customers can pay $5.99 per order or they can subscribe to the service with a $14.99 fee that covers 30 days of unlimited delivery.

“Families across the nation trust and rely on Albertsons Companies’ stores for their fresh groceries and everyday essentials,” Apoorva Mehta, founder and CEO of Instacart, said in a statement discussing the partnership.

Albertsons made multiple digital-minded moves in 2017, including the acquisition of the meal kit Plated in September.  “We’re getting a tremendous amount of scale,” said Plated CEO Joshua Hix in a September interview with Supermarket News. “Thirty-five million customers.” Hix pointed out that the entire meal kit category at that time only served about one million customers. “That’s an enormous amount of customers who already know and trust Albertson’s brands,” he said.

Hix added that Alberstons recognizes the need to grow its technological and online  footprint in the modern retail landscape.

Instacart has been busy as well. Earlier this month, it was announced that Loblaw Cos. would serve as the “anchor” supermarket banner for Instacart as it begins its expansion into Canada. On Dec 6, the digital service will launch in Toronto. It will open in the Brampton, Ontario-based retailer’s Vancouver market in January.

Stateside, Aldi signed on with Instacart in August. This signaled the first time the German discount retailer offered online sales in American stores.

Albertsons currently operates across 35 states and Washington D.C. under 20 banners.

Instacart is available in more than 150 markets. Users can access the service via the company’s website or app.