Instacart has welcomed droves of new customers during the pandemic. But loyalty to the company has diminished as competition from the likes of DoorDash and Uber has increased and as grocers have gotten a status bump during the global health crisis, Barclays’ report suggests.
Like the 2019 survey results, the most recent findings suggest shoppers are split on whether they are more loyal to Instacart or to the retailer. But the survey this year found an uptick in customers who said they would look for a different home delivery option. When asked if their preferred retailer was no longer available with Instacart, 38% of shoppers said they would go to the same grocer in-store and 37% would use a different retailer on Instacart — down 7 and 6 percentage points, respectively, from 2019. Twenty-three percent said they would find a different grocery home delivery option, up 12 percentage points over the previous survey.
While more respondents said Instacart is their preferred shopping method, Barclays said consumer engagement with grocers has grown during the pandemic. In addition to the increase in the percentage of consumers who said they’re loyal to their favorite grocers, 59% of respondents — up from 32% in 2019 — said using Instacart does not impact their tendency to shop in-store with retailers.
Source: Grocery Dive