Partnership – now in 17 U.S. Cities – saved Whole Foods Market customers 970,000 shopping hours
AUSTIN, 2015-9-11 — /EPR Retail News/ — Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) and one-hour grocery delivery service, Instacart, today marked the one-year anniversary of a partnership that has helped Whole Foods Market customers conveniently purchase groceries and have them delivered in as little as one hour.
Most notably, in the first year of the partnership Whole Foods Market customers collectively saved 970,0001 hours to spend however they liked because we did the shopping for them.
Instacart delivered millions upon millions of items from America’s healthiest grocery store over the past year, including:
• 2.2 million bananas, enough to stretch from Boston to Philadelphia if placed end-to-end
• 1.25 million apples, enough to bake an apple pie that would cover the entire infield at a professional baseball game
• 4 million cage free eggs, enough to serve an omelet to all 971,000 residents of Austin, Texas
• 500,000 avocados, enough to make a cup of guacamole for every fan at four sold out pro football games
Whole Foods Market shoppers had a clear favorite when ordering groceries delivered by Instacart: fresh produce. In-fact, more than 40 percent of all Whole Foods Market shopping baskets delivered by Instacart featured fresh produce items. The top five most frequently purchased products over the past year were bananas, avocados, carrots, lemons and limes.
“When Whole Foods Market launched our partnership with Instacart a year ago today, we did so with the belief that our customers would love the speed and convenience of shopping our store shelves from wherever they might be at any given time,” said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. “The results speak for themselves. Our customers clearly love having this convenient shopping option, and Whole Foods Market will continue to provide our shoppers with innovative new choices that deliver great shopping experiences and help make their lives easier.”
“Instacart’s partnership with Whole Foods Market has helped lead the way in bringing innovation to the on-demand grocery delivery industry,” said Apoorva Mehta, founder and CEO of Instacart. “By amplifying our shared vision to create a seamless grocery shopping experience, we have been able to provide customers across the country with access to quality, fresh groceries delivered right to their doorstep. We are happy to be working together to give customers a new way to shop that meets their needs and fits their busy lifestyles, and look forward to many great years ahead.”
Instacart currently delivers Whole Foods Market groceries in 17 metropolitan areas: Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Boulder; Chicago; Denver; Houston; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; San Jose; Seattle and Washington, DC.
By ordering at Instacart.com or via the Instacart mobile app, Whole Foods Market customers simply select their zip code, add items to a virtual cart, and then choose a delivery window (within one hour, within two hours, or at a scheduled time) and check out. Instacart personal shoppers confirm incoming orders on their smartphones, shop for the items at Whole Foods Market stores and then deliver orders to customers in the designated delivery timeframe.
Via Instacart, Whole Foods Market customers can save grocery lists for fast, easy shopping and automated ordering of regularly purchased products. Instacart also offers a robust collection of recipes from Whole Foods Market and other great sources which can auto-generate grocery lists for customers’ selected dishes.
All Instacart customers receive free delivery on their first order; thereafter the cost is just $3.99 for two-hour delivery or $5.99 for one-hour delivery. Customers can also purchase a $99 annual Instacart Express membership and receive free delivery on any order over $35.
1 customer shopping hours saved is calculated by multiplying the average time for each Instacart full Service shop and in-store shop/delivery by the number of deliveries Instacart made to Whole Foods Market shoppers.
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