Warehouse chain Sam’s Club announced today that it is expanding its partnership with Instacart to bring same day delivery to more than half of all Sam’s Clubs across the country by the end of this month.
According to the press announcement, Sam’s Club grocery delivery via Instacart will be available from roughly 350 stores by the end of October, up from the current 238. The two companies launched their partnership in February of this year with 61 clubs.
In addition to groceries, customers can also get gifts and small appliances delivered through Instacart in as fast as an hour.
A lot has changed since the start of the year for both Sam’s Club and Instacart. In January, Sam’s Club abruptly shut down 63 of its stores. But while Sam’s Club shrank, Instacart has grown, raising nearly a billion dollars in new funding ($600 million of which was just this week!).
Today’s announcement also comes around the same time the TABS Analytics 6th Annual Food and Beverage Consumables Study revealed that just 17 percent of respondents regularly shop for groceries online (six or more purchases per year). That figure is a 4 percent bump over last year’s survey, however.
And it’s that growth that retailers are preparing for, as online grocery shopping is projected to hit $100 billion by 2022. Instacart, Postmates and DoorDash have all raised hundreds of millions of dollars to facilitate last mile delivery logistics. At the same time, retailers are getting into the delivery game themselves. In addition to expanding its own relationship with Instacart, Kroger is testing out self-driving delivery vehicles while Walmart has launched its own delivery service.
Retailers are focusing on fast, convenient grocery delivery now to grab early market share. Once they’ve got a customer hooked, as the entire space grows, so too will the revenues.
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