Instacart buys AI-powered pricing platform Eversight

Instacart, which has been rolling out a host of new features in recent months as it reportedly prepares to go public, has acquired Eversight, an AI-powered pricing and promotions platform for retailers and CPG brands, the same-day grocery delivery company announced Thursday.

Palo Alto, California-based Eversight, which was founded in 2013, allows retailers and brands to continuously test customized pricing and promotions in real time, Instacart said.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Retailers can use both physical and digital storefronts to run “ongoing individualized micro price point experiments at-scale,” the company said in a statement.

“This automates processes that have traditionally been highly manual and time-consuming and lets brands and retailers engage in shopper-centric optimization,” Instacart said.

Eversight said its service is particularly critical amid a time of soaring food inflation, in which shopper behavior changes swiftly.

“We founded Eversight to help brands and retailers be more agile and consumer-centric with their pricing and promotions decisions,” David Moran, Eversight’s co-founder and chairman, said in a statement. “By joining Instacart, this technology can be scaled across online and offline pricing to help make buying groceries more affordable for everyone while also driving more value for CPG and retailers.”

Schnucks, the 112-store grocery chain, said it has leveraged Eversight’s technology.

“We take our responsibility to provide affordable, fresh foods seriously, especially at a time when we know our customers are aiming to stretch their food dollars,” Tom Henry, chief data officer and deputy chief information officer for the retailer, said in a statement. “Eversight’s pricing insights position us to meet our customers’ needs while creating value for our business.”

Eversight’s technology will be part of the Instacart Platform suite for retailers, particularly on the platform’s data dashboard, called Carrot Insights, that tracks key performance and operational metrics.

“Together, we believe we can transform pricing and promotions strategies for our partners over time by creating a flywheel effect in which goods are priced at the sweet spot that drives more sales and growth for CPG brands and retailers, while unlocking even better promotions and pricing for customers that will help them maximize their savings both in-store and online,” Instacart said.

Instacart, which is said to be preparing for an initial public offering before the end of the year, has been very busy recently.

The delivery platform said it set multiple records in 2021 and that it has “carried that momentum into 2022,” including all-time high orders, revenue, ad revenue and gross profit.

Instacart recently re-worked its Instacart membership offering to include 5% cash back on pickup orders. And, last week, the company took big steps to increase sales via in-app discovery, partnering with Grammy-winner Lizzo to present a shoppable cart of the artist’s favorite food and drink items.

The company has also been working with thousands of CPG brands to create “inspirational shopping experiences” across its app, in an effort to make online grocery shopping more like the in-store experience.

Instacart, which offers same-day delivery and pickup services from more than 75,000 stores in 13,000 cities, is reportedly planning to go public by the end of the year. The company confidentially filed documents for an IPO in May with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Instacart’s revenue climbed 39% during its second quarter, to $621 million, compared to the prior year, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.