- Instacart will start selling ads to food brands on its Caper smart shopping carts.
- Shoppers will even see ads customized to their buying habits on the cart's screen.
- It's the latest example of retailers trying to increase their revenue from advertising, especially in stores.
Your grocery cart might be the next place you'll see ads tailored to your buying habits.
Instacart will test ads on its Caper smart shopping carts at Bristol Farms grocery stores in Southern California, it said on Monday. These carts, designed by an AI startup Instacart acquired in 2021, have been tested in Kroger, Schnucks, Geissler's, and Wakefern. The new ads will appear on a screen just above the handle on the carts, and the ads will even be personalized based on an individual shopper's choices.
"For example, if a customer adds ice cream cones, they might see a complementary item recommendation, like Dreyer's ice cream," an announcement from Instacart reads. Dreyer's, along with General Mills and Del Monte Foods, are some of the food companies placing the first ads to appear on the carts.
Shoppers who use a Caper cart spend about half an hour in front of the device, according to Instacart. That's a chance for food brands to advertise products to customers as they're moving through a store, the company says.
Instacart plans to have "thousands" of the Caper carts in stores by the end of 2024, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo told Bloomberg on Monday. The carts already have the ability to keep track of what customers intend to buy and charge them accordingly when they're finished at the store.
"We really believe that it's going to be the future of grocery shopping," Simo said.
Retailers and related companies are trying to sell more ads in their stores and on their websites. Caper carts are just one example of the boom in what those in the industry call "retail media."
Walmart said last year that it would ramp up ads played over its in-store announcement system as well as increase sampling of food products, for instance.
Most retailers' ad sales are a fraction of Amazon's, which has been building its ad business for longer. Amazon made $37.7 billion on ads in 2022, while Walmart booked $2.7 billion.
Instacart is trying to grow its own advertising division to expand its business beyond delivery by gig workers. This year, Instacart's ad revenue will increase 25.5% to $1.18 billion, according to an estimate from Insider Intelligence. Insider Intelligence is a sister company of Insider.