Instacart is expanding its advertising solutions to Caper Carts, the company’s AI-powered smart carts.
The new ads are launching soon at Good Food Holdings’ Bristol Farms stores in Southern California, with additional retail partners rolling out in the months ahead.
Ads on Caper Carts will give customers more customized recommendations to help them discover brands and products.
The advertising connects Instacart’s CPG brand partners and retailers with customers who, on average, spend more than 30 minutes shopping in-store with a Caper Cart. Launch partners include Del Monte Foods, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and General Mills.
Customers using Caper Carts soon will experience two new features:
- Products, brands, deals and seasonal promotions at the start of the shopping journey on the Caper Cart home screen.
- Personalized product recommendations based on real-time shopping behaviors or cart contents.
Instacart expects to have thousands of Caper Carts deployed by the end of 2024.
“Our acquisition of Caper has been a core part of our strategic evolution to support retailers and brands not just online but also in-store,” said Fidji Simo, CEO and chair of Instacart.
“Today’s announcement expands on the success of our advertising solutions and smart carts to power a more inspirational, connected in-store shopping experience for customers. We’re proud to bring these solutions in-store for the first time for our CPG brand partners, while simultaneously offering new revenue opportunities for our retail partners.”
Caper Carts are part of Instacart’s Connected Stores suite of technologies, built to help grocers bridge the online and in-store shopping experience. By using computer vision and AI, the cart can identify items as they are placed in the basket, allowing customers to bag as they shop and check out from the cart.
Other retailers using or soon deploying Caper Carts include Fairway Market, Geissler’s Supermarkets, ShopRite and Sobeys.
“Late last year, we unveiled our plans to update most of our traditional shopping carts with Instacart’s smart carts, aiming to make shopping easier, more personalized and efficient for customers,” said Bob Rybick, president and CEO of Geissler’s.
“Now, with the introduction of ads on Caper Carts, we’ll be able to take that goal a step further – not only enhancing the in-store experience by helping customers discover new products, brands and promotions, but also unlocking a new revenue stream and opportunities to strengthen customer loyalty.”
Read more technology news from The Shelby Report.
