Dive Brief:
- Instacart is expanding its partnership with Aldi, with the grocery technology company adding its Connected Stores solutions, which include pickup fulfillment technology, to all Aldi U.S. locations.
- The companies are also expanding their partnership globally, debuting Instacart’s Caper Carts at an Aldi store in Austria.
- As Aldi continues to grow, integrating these technologies will allow the discount grocer to create a more personalized shopping experience for its customers, Instacart said.
Dive Insight:
Aldi is bringing Instacart’s suite of Connected Stores capabilities to U.S. locations to bolster the digital and in-store shopping experience. Along with bringing Instacart’s pickup fulfillment technology to stores, the discount grocer will also introduce the grocery technology company’s electronic shelf label capabilities (Carrot Tags) and an in-store app mode.
The in-store app technology will allow shoppers to see what’s in-stock, sort items by aisles and access in-store promotions through the Instacart app.
Instacart’s Carrot Tags, which are already in use at over 100 Aldi stores in Illinois and Ohio, will soon roll out nationwide and aim to make it easier for Instacart workers to locate products. The tags’ pick-to-light feature lets them select an item on their phone and find it through the corresponding shelf label light.
Instacart and Aldi will begin testing Caper Carts at the discount grocer’s Sattledt store in Austria, building on Instacart’s international growth efforts, according to the announcement.
The smart carts, which will be placed at the store entrance, allows customers to see their shopping trip’s running total on its digital screen. Shoppers paying by card will go through the “fast lane” at checkout to expedite the shopping experience, per the press release.
Aldi will be the first grocer to test Caper Carts in Europe, David McIntosh, vice president and general manager of Connected Stores at Instacart, said in a statement.
The overseas debut of Caper Carts follows Instacart’s growing number of smart cart deployments stateside. Earlier this month, Instacart announced Davis Food & Drug will replace the majority of its shopping carts with Caper Carts at its three locations in Utah.
Last summer, select Schnuck Markets stores, the ShopRite of Spotswood in New Jersey and a Fairway Market in Manhattan, rolled out Caper Carts.
Instacart and Aldi first partnered in 2017 for same-day delivery in the U.S. and since then, expanded their tie-up to include alcohol delivery and acceptance of SNAP online payments. In June 2023, the two companies launched Aldi Express, a “virtual convenience store” that offers 30-minute delivery from over 2,100 Aldi U.S. locations.
