Is Instacart a friend or foe?

The pressures of the quickly evolving grocery industry have pushed a number of food retailers into the arms of Instacart. But, what grocers might not realize is, by doing so, they are potentially hurting their own brand.

This is according to Forbes contributor Brittain Ladd, who recently weighed in on Instacart's PR woes and grocers' willingness to hand their shopper analytics over to the delivery service. Ladd argued that Instacart was armed with enough data to move into the physical retail space.

"Grocery executives at the largest grocery retailers foolishly, and I do mean foolishly, allowed Instacart to learn their strengths and weaknesses," he wrote.

READ: Instacart’s CEO on the importance of brick-and-mortar retail

When Amazon purchased Whole Foods, Instacart was the quickest and easiest way for grocers to compete against the e-comm giant and to move into the online grocery space, contends Ladd. But now is the time to take the power back and regain ownership of shopper data, urged Ladd. "Instacart is your competitor, and not your savior, grocery retailers."

Click here to read Ladd's column.