Instacart Powers Stop & Shop 30-Minute C-Store Delivery Play

With the help of Instacart, grocers are looking to replace the traditional convenience store as consumers’ go-to when it comes to quickly purchasing everyday essentials. On Tuesday (Oct. 12), Ahold Delhaize subsidiary Stop & Shop, which operates more than 400 supermarkets throughout the northeastern United States, announced that it is partnering with Instacart to launch 30-minute convenience delivery under the name “Stop & Shop Express.”

“From a last-minute baking or dinner ingredient to toothpaste and paper goods, we’re thrilled to give customers an easier and faster way to access their convenience shopping needs,” Chris Rogers, vice president of retail at Instacart, said in a statement. “As part of our deepened partnership, we’re excited to introduce Stop & Shop Express and to continue to provide an online grocery experience that is effortless, accessible and affordable for customers.”

The Context

The supermarket brand joins fellow Ahold Delhaize subsidiary The Giant Company, which operates more than 180 grocery stores on the East Coast, in offering half-hour delivery of everyday essentials through Instacart. The latter announced the launch of its partnership in late September. The first grocer to announce such a partnership with the online grocery delivery service was Kroger, which launched in mid-September.

See also: Giant Launches 30-Minute Delivery

The rise of digital ordering has blurred the line between convenience, grocery and restaurants. For instance, DoorDash, which began with restaurant meal delivery, has gotten into convenience and grocery, while convenience stores have been competing with quick-service restaurants, finding new ways to make their prepared food offerings available to consumers.

Related news: C-Stores Face Looming Problem With Lack of Drive-Thrus and Curbside Pickup

By the Numbers

PYMNTS’ research from the report “The Bring-It-to-Me Economy,” created in collaboration with Carat from Fiserv, finds that nearly two-thirds of consumers are now more likely to buy retail items online than they were before the start of the pandemic, 58% have been ordering restaurant-made food online more often, and 46% have been ordering groceries online more.

Additionally, PYMNTS’ What Consumers Expect From Their Grocery Shopping Experiences, a collaboration with ACI Worldwide, finds that 57% of consumers purchasing groceries online report doing so because it is faster, and 76% because it is easier and more convenient than shopping in stores.

More details: Digital Features Can Help Grocers Win Over 43% of Shoppers

And also: Bring-It-to-Me Economy Ascends as Consumers Embrace Home-Centric Lifestyles

What Insiders Are Saying

“Demand is greater than ever for giving customers access to their immediate needs,” Ashwin Wadekar, chief of staff at 10-minute e-grocery delivery service Gorillas, told PYMNTS in an interview. “What began as an early adopter trend pre-pandemic and suddenly became a necessity as lockdowns hit has now turned into something that consumers see as customary when it comes to their grocery shopping experience.”

This shift to frictionless convenience has created a certain channel and category agnosticism, making it possible for grocers to make a play for consumers’ convenience spend and vice versa.

“You’ve got to be able to take the friction out of the overarching customer experience, and it doesn’t matter whether they drive up and go into the store as they have for 30 years, whether they insert their card, earn points in the store, earn points at the pump or pay with their mobile devices,” Bobby Koscheski, head of omnicommerce, fuel and convenience store solutions at ACI Worldwide, told PYMNTS earlier this year. “They just want convenience. They want the ability to shop and buy and make it really convenient.”

Read more: ACI Worldwide: Fuel Sales Add Fire to C-Store Digital-First Efforts

And also: Gorillas Aims to Bring eGrocery Into the Future With Lightning-Fast Delivery