Instacart hires Amazon exec as chief revenue officer

Advertising sales veteran Seth Dallaire is joining Instacart as chief revenue officer, a newly created position.

Plans call for Dallaire, vice president of global advertising sales and marketing at Amazon, to start at San Francisco-based Instacart in November. The online grocery marketplace and delivery company said he will oversee its brand marketing partnerships business, which enables consumer brands to reach North American online consumers directly at the point of purchase via Instacart’s platform.

Instacart said it now partners more than 1,000 brands, including 100% of the top 25 U.S. consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands. Dallaire will be charged with driving adoption of Instacart’s suite of product offerings that help brands and retailers better engage with consumers.

"Instacart is changing the face of online grocery shopping, and I'm thrilled to be joining at such a pivotal moment for the company and industry," Dallaire (left) said in a statement. "As consumers continue to become more comfortable buying their groceries online, there are an increasing number of opportunities for brands and retailers, large and small, to engage them more deeply. I look forward to working with Instacart's brand partners and retailers to enhance the experience for consumers and drive business growth."

Dallaire has served as vice president of global advertising sales and marketing at Amazon since November 2014. He joined the online retail giant in February 2012 as vice president of North American advertising sales. Before that, he spent two-and-a-half years at Yahoo! as vice president of global agencies and accounts and seven years at Microsoft as senior director of MSN advertising sales. The latter followed a two-year stint at Amazon as senior account manager for business development.

At Instacart, Dallaire will work out of the San Francisco headquarters and report to Chief Business Officer Nilam Ganenthiran.

"Growing our marketing and promotions partnerships with brands and retailers is an enormous area of opportunity for Instacart. We've seen tremendous growth of this business over the course of the last year, but believe we've only scratched the surface of what's possible," Ganenthiran commented. "With more than 20 years of experience leading advertising sales and strategy for fast-growing tech companies, Seth is uniquely positioned to lead the next chapter of Instacart's brand partnerships business, which offers customers an enhanced shopping experience and brands an unmatched opportunity to reach those customers directly in the checkout line." 

CPG brand services present a potentially lucrative new revenue stream for Instacart as it has continued to expand its online grocery business. The company now partners with more than 300 retailers in North America, providing delivery from over 20,000 stores in 5,500-plus cities. The service reaches more than 80% of U.S. households and over 70% of Canadian households.