US (DC): Same-day grocery delivery service Instacart adds Whole Foods
Unlike other grocery delivery services such as Relay Foods or PeaPod, which often require at least 24 hours to fulfil grocery delivery orders placed online, Instacart offers same-day delivery of a shopper's online order via a staff of personal shoppers. For busy D.C.—and now Arlington—residents, or for people who simply don't like to grocery shop, $3.99 seems a small premium to pay for a same-day order of $35 or more. If your order is under $35, or you want to choose a one-hour window later in the day, you'll pay $7.99. If you need your groceries within the hour, the delivery charge goes up to $14.99.
D.C. is one of five markets Instacart is serving. The Y-Combinator startup launched in 2012 (read Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta's story of hacking the famed accelerator), and successfully rolled its services out in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Instacart is also launching today in Philadelphia. O'Connor says that expansion within the D.C. market is coming soon. "We wanted to start small and then expand," he explains, adding that Montgomery County should see Instacart service soon.
"It's been an amazing launch," O'Connor says. "There's been overwhelming demand. We don't have enough shoppers." Though the company won't release official numbers, O'Connor says Instacart plans to double the number of personal shoppers it employs by month's end.
Source: elevationdcmedia.com
