Instacart bets on AI with Storefront upgrades
Instacart is rolling out some major upgrades to its Storefront and Caper Carts solutions, “supercharged” by artificial intelligence.
“We’ve long believed the future of grocery – and commerce in general – isn’t online or in-store, it’s both. And now, more than ever, it’s being supercharged with AI,” said Asha Sharma, chief operating officer at Instacart, in a statement. “We know that omnichannel customers in particular are more valuable to retailers, which is why Instacart is developing more solutions that help retailers serve their customers no matter how they shop. And, good data is the foundation for good AI solutions for retailers. Our operational advantage is built around our dynamic grocery catalog – which is one of the largest in the industry and includes 1.4 billion items and more than 6,000 item updates per second – paired with more than a decade of knowledge about how people shop for groceries online.”
The e-commerce company is bringing AI-powered conversational search to Storefront with OpenAI’s ChatGPT models alongside Instacart’s own product data and AI models. Via the search bar on retailers’ storefronts in the app, customers can ask questions like, “What do I need to make fish tacos?” or, “What’s a nutritious lunch for my kids?”
READ: Higher tech in the grocery store
Instacart is also introducing “In-Store” mode, which promises to help customers see what’s in stock, view important details about items on their list (like nutrition information), get product recommendations, sort items by aisle and access in-store promotions and discounts.
That technology is only available now for select retailers on Storefront, and is being tested on the Instacart app.
Other Storefront upgrades include: new merchandising and marketing capabilities, such as shoppable digital flyers; more self-serve capabilities; and better tooling and analytics.
In the U.S., Instacart announced an umber of new updates to Caper Carts, including: upgraded AI models; the ability to order made-to-order items directly from the carts; new in-store rewards; and a new Caper Cart dock, which lets retailers provided a permanent place for Caper Carts to be stores and charged.
