Wegmans’ Big Apple Bet on ‘The Instacart Effect’

With a new website and app elevating its digital presence, Wegmans Food Markets is ready to take on Manhattan—carting groceries across the East River from its new store in Brooklyn with the help of Instacart.

“Expanding delivery into Manhattan has been on our radar since opening our Brooklyn store,” Erica Tickle, director of e-commerce for Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans, said in a statement. “We’ve heard from customers this would make life easier for them, and with major investments in e-commerce like our new website and app, the timing couldn’t be better to make ordering favorite Wegmans brand products and fresh foods available for delivery to Manhattan.”

The delivery expansion would put Wegmans in closer reach to more than 1 million shoppers in New York's wealthiest borough.

The Wegmans announcement comes on the heels of newly released research data detailing “The Instacart Effect”—the delivery service’s ability to drive job creation and revenue growth for the industry.

One of four states in which “The Instacart Effect” was studied, New York has been profitable for the delivery service and its more than 85 retail partners representing nearly 1,500 stores in the state. “In New York, we’re proud to work with retailers from Buffalo to the Capital Region to the Big Apple, delivering everything from your favorite Wegmans Honey Mustard to wine and cheese from Eataly to local produce from Tops,” Instacart said.

“In partnership with Instacart, we’ve seen tremendous growth and success with our online grocery shopping and delivery services,” Tickle said. “It represents a growing percentage of our sales, and with larger delivery radiuses, we’re able to reach more customers in New York, and other markets where traffic and transportation prohibit customers from coming to us.”

“In New York, Instacart created over 6,600 retail grocery jobs and $154 million in incremental revenue in 2019,” according to the Instacart report.

New York-based Wegmans customers can visit Wegmans.com or the Wegmans app to confirm they are within the delivery area and start shopping. Customers can also shop Wegmans online or the Instacart app.

With the expanded radius, delivery is now available to all Manhattan ZIP codes, but due to longer drive times, delivery to Manhattan addresses will often require longer delivery windows, ranging between two and five hours, according to Wegmans officials.

“By expanding our partnership to enable delivery from the Wegmans Brooklyn location into Manhattan, we’re giving New Yorkers a convenient, new way to get the groceries and household essentials they need from the grocer they love,” Andrew Nodes, VP of retail for Instacart, said in a statement.

Wegmans delivery starts at $3.99 (free for Instacart Express Members) on orders of $35 or more. For delivery, Wegmans adds a price increase to items ordered to cover the cost of Instacart shopping services.