In its first Economic Impact Report, Instacart reports that it has added more than 231,000 brick-and-mortar grocery jobs and nearly $8 billion in incremental revenue for the U.S. grocery industry since its founding in 2012.
In addition, the company has generated more than $15 billion in earnings for shoppers and saved them more than 700 million total hours during that same span.
With its growing advertising business, the report found that Instacart also has helped more than 5,500 brand partners reach new customers and grow their businesses, driving an average of 15 percent incremental revenue lift for them.
“As the leading grocery technology company in North America, we’re proud to have helped generate billions of dollars in shopper earnings and retailer revenue while giving millions of hours back to families,” said Sarah Fleisch, senior director of policy research and development.
“In doing so, as this analysis shows, we’re helping power local economies in the communities we serve. We look forward to continuing to build new products and technologies that deliver measurable, sustainable value for every member of the Instacart community.”
The report also features independent analysis on Instacart’s impact on small businesses, including that it has helped small brick-and-mortar grocers add tens of thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in incremental revenue.
Specifically, according to the analysis by Robert Kulick of National Economic Research Associates, Instacart has helped small grocery stores (1-49 employees) in the U.S. increase their revenue by more than $2 billion and create about 66,000 new grocery jobs.
“This research provides further evidence that Instacart has been an economic catalyst for the U.S. grocery industry – and in particular, for small grocers,” said Kulick, associate director at NERA.
“The analysis shows that, from its inception, Instacart has driven significant increases in grocery employment and revenue, with a disproportionately high share of those jobs and sales increases at small businesses.
“It’s clear that the Instacart Effect – the causal relationship between Instacart’s growth and the growth of the grocery industry – is a national phenomenon benefitting grocers, workers, and the economy.”
Notably, a high percentage of the grocery jobs Instacart has helped generate have been at small businesses. More specifically, the 66,000 jobs Instacart has helped create at small grocery stores represents 29 percent of the total number of 231,000 jobs the company has generated across the entire grocery industry – more than double the small business share of all grocery employment in the U.S. (14 percent).
“As a local, fourth-generation, family-owned supermarket chain, our goal is to remain innovative and competitive so that we can continue to serve our community,” said Bob Rybick, CEO at Geissler’s Supermarket with locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
“Instacart is helping us access new technologies that improve our operations, so we can stay focused on providing access to fresh, local food and the best possible customer service.”
Kulick’s research analyzed data from across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to better understand the statistical relationship between Instacart adoption in local markets and grocery employment and revenue growth in the grocery industry.
“At Instacart, we’ve seen firsthand the deeply important role small, local and independent grocers play in their communities and in our national economy,” Fleisch said.
“We’re proud to help small grocers innovate, thrive and grow – and in the process, as this new research shows, we’re thrilled to help them add billions in revenue and create thousands more jobs in their local communities.”
Read more technology news from The Shelby Report.
What Instacart’s IPO Says About E-Commerce Growth, Retail Grocery
