Dive Brief:
- Instacart announced Thursday it has added a new technology, called Store View, which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to collect real-time data on shelf inventory.
- The company has also added the ability for a worker at a second location of a retailer selected by a customer to check for out-of-stock items. Instacart noted that because more than half of orders are accepted by workers already at or near a store, another worker can quickly check to see if the requested item is available.
- Instacart also said it plans to equip its Caper Carts with outward-facing cameras to provide real-time inventory updates as often as every hour in some stores, but did not say when that would happen.
Dive Insight:
Instacart’s in-store technology announcement comes as grocers continue to grapple with how to solve the major headache of out-of-stocks, which can lead to inadequate substitutions that dampen the online shopping experience for shoppers.
As much as 60% of inventory records are inaccurate, according to a study by ECR Retail Loss Group that Instacart cited in a blog post. About 5% of Instacart customers are not happy with the replacement items they receive, Instacart said.
Instacart said the Store View technology and second store check option are possible because of the company’s integrations with retail partners’ inventory systems and its army of roughly 600,000 workers, who collect over 10 million data points daily.
For Store View, eligible workers will have access to a new earning opportunity where they take videos of store shelves aisle by aisle that Instacart’s Store View technology then analyzes. This technology will identify what’s available, what’s out of stock and what’s running low, and help refine Instacart’s predictive models, the blog post noted.
Store View will launch with select retailers over the coming weeks before scaling to more retailers across the U.S. and Canada throughout 2025, Instacart said.
For the secondary store check, Instacart will automatically ask another worker to check if an item is available at another nearby location when the worker handling an order cannot find the product at the store they’re shopping.
Second Store Check will roll out across the Instacart marketplace in the coming months. The option will appear when a customer’s order needs help from a second shopper, Instacart said.
