About a month after grocery-chain operator Kroger announced a partnership with DoorDash, it has announced the expansion of its relationship with Instacart.
Kroger said its expanded relationship with Instacart allows the retailer “to continue to innovate the customer digital shopping experience.” Kroger added that Instacart will help it improve efficiency as well as increase access to agentic shopping experiences and retail media options. Agentic shopping, which retailers also refer to as “agentic commerce,” is an emerging use of artificial intelligence in which AI agents complete purchases on behalf of their users.
Additionally, Kroger said the expanded relationship “reaffirms” Instacart as its “primary delivery fulfillment partner” for consumers using Kroger.com and its mobile app. Instacart fulfills delivery from nearly 2,700 of the retailer’s stores across more than 20 brand banners across the United States, Kroger said. Kroger and Instacart have partnered on delivery since 2017.
Kroger ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Furthermore, Kroger is No. 1 in the database’s Food & Beverage category, though it competes with Mass Merchants — Walmart and Target — that rank higher in the Top 2000 for online grocery sales.
Kroger capitalizes on Instacart’s agentic AI
The expanded partnership leads Kroger to become one of the first retailers to offer customers access to Instacart’s AI assistant, which it calls Cart Assistant. The companies said it will offer Cart Assistant to customers shopping on Kroger’s iOS mobile app. Instacart said it designed Cart Assistant to help customers “find meal inspiration, build carts faster with favorite items, and plan meals more easily.”
Meanwhile, Yael Cosset, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Kroger, explained how Kroger is using AI in an agentic context as a shopping tool.
“Agentic shopping has the potential to change the way American families shop and eat,” Cosset said in a statement. “Interacting with an AI agent makes shopping and meal planning as simple as a conversation, helping customers build their basket or offering meal suggestions, truly understanding what matters most to them.”
Kroger’s partnership with Instacart for delivery
The companies said that together, they are fulfilling more orders from Kroger stores — and doing so “faster and more reliably than ever.” Part of that comes from using AI-centered technology that they said improves operational efficiency.
Through the partnership, the companies are increasing access to “express delivery” on Kroger, which refers to those that arrive in as fast as 30 minutes.
“Kroger is one of our most deeply integrated partners, and they’ve doubled down on Instacart as their primary fulfillment and delivery provider across all Kroger’s digital properties, including Kroger.com, because we enable consistent, fast, and high-quality grocery delivery at scale,” said Chris Rogers, CEO at Instacart, in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited about the next chapter of our partnership, as Instacart powers the new AI capabilities that will shape the future of how Kroger customers shop. Together, we’re making shopping more personalized, intuitive, and efficient for millions of families across the country.”
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