- Instacart will display targeted ads on smart grocery carts, starting with Southern California Bristol Farms locations this week.
- The recommendations will dynamically respond to items added to baskets.
- The pilot reflects growing retail media interest.
Instacart has unveiled plans to display personalized advertisements on smart shopping carts in select grocery stores.
The pilot program launches this week at Southern California Bristol Farms locations, which currently feature carts designed by Caper, an AI shopping cart startup acquired by Instacart in 2021.
Shopping experience with dynamic ads
The ads will appear on an integrated screen above the cart handles. Instacart states that recommendations will dynamically respond to contents added to the basket, “so if a customer adds ice cream cones, they might see a complementary item like Dreyer’s ice cream.”
Early sponsors include prominent brands such as General Mills and Del Monte.
Expansion and market potential
With shoppers estimated to spend around 30 minutes engaging with the Caper interface per grocery trip, Instacart sees notable advertising potential. As patrons navigate store aisles, brands can target relevant products in real-time. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo contends these “smart” carts represent “the future of grocery shopping.”
The company aims to have thousands of locations equipped with Caper cart technology by late 2024. The carts already facilitate various functionalities, from tracking intended purchases to self-checkout.
The foray into cart-based ads reflects the surging interest in retail media, with retailers exploring creative options to drive sponsorship revenue. While still dwarfed by Amazon’s $37.7 billion ad business, Walmart and others are aggressively expanding their own ad platforms.
Instacart itself hopes to grow advertising by 25% this year to over $1.18 billion. The personalized cart ads demonstrate the next frontier in data-driven retail marketing.
