Heinen’s dropped Instacart. Will other grocers follow suit?
Changes in how grocers are approaching their e-commerce strategies signal they may start shifting away from third-party marketplaces, retail observers say.
By Catherine Douglas Moran

Last week, Heinen’s bid farewell to Instacart, opting instead to focus on rolling out a new mobile app, upgraded shopping platform and relying on its own associates to fulfill e-commerce orders.

The announcement has raised questions both about how Heinen’s will handle fulfillment without Instacart and if other grocers will also move away from third-party e-commerce providers.

Against the backdrop of consumers being price-sensitive amid high inflation and grocers seeking more control over the consumer relationship, removing e-commerce middlemen will likely be a natural tendency for grocers going forward, said Rick Watson, CEO and founder of RMW Commerce Consulting.

“The migration of higher-income consumers to Walmart for the past two quarters indicates that even higher-income consumers tend to be trading down. ... Instacart is a premium service,” Watson noted. 

Read the full article at grocerydive.com.