Hello GrocerTalk listeners,
Well, what a week for grocery ecommerce! DoorDash and Instacart are joining forces in a $17 billion deal, Amazon is taking its same-day fresh grocery model to Germany, and Instacart is saying goodbye to Caper Cart. Three BIG stories, and plenty to unpack!
This week, I welcomed Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Retail at GlobalData, to help me make sense of it all. And with so much happening across the industry, we certainly had no shortage of things to debate!
A big thank you to our GrocerTalk sponsors, Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vusion, and Sifter Solutions, for making these conversations possible!
Here’s what caught my attention this week.
DoorDash and Instacart: A $17 Billion Deal That Could Reshape Grocery Delivery
DoorDash’s $17 billion acquisition of Instacart is a BIG move, but Neil made a compelling argument that this deal is about much more than giving consumers another way to order groceries. It’s about scale. DoorDash brings its restaurant and convenience delivery network, while Instacart adds the larger weekly grocery shop, enterprise technology, and a valuable retail media business. Combining those operations could improve logistics, increase delivery density, and create new opportunities for profitability. And when you’re competing with Walmart and Amazon, those efficiencies matter!
But there’s a major hurdle ahead. The deal isn’t expected to close until late 2027 or potentially early 2028, and Neil and I spent quite some time debating the antitrust implications. While Neil questioned whether regulators could reasonably argue that the deal harms consumers, he raised concerns about regional grocers becoming more dependent on a single ecommerce provider. I also wondered what consolidation could mean for gig workers. And with Walmart and Amazon unlikely to sit still during the lengthy approval process, there’s plenty that could change before these two companies officially join forces. (Source)
Amazon Takes Same-Day Fresh to Germany. This Could Be HUGE.
I went into this week’s episode thinking DoorDash and Instacart would be the biggest story. But globally? I’m not so sure. Amazon is bringing same-day fresh grocery delivery to Frankfurt, Cologne, and Munich, allowing shoppers to order perishables alongside everyday essentials through Amazon.de. Neil pointed out that Germany is a VERY different grocery market, with major players like Aldi and Lidl, a strong discount culture, and online grocery penetration of only around 5%. That’s quite a contrast to the US, where we’ve recently been discussing online grocery crossing the 20% mark!
What makes this especially interesting is Amazon’s broader grocery strategy. Its latest quarterly results showed that fresh groceries and everyday essentials are growing roughly three times faster than the rest of its stores business, reinforcing Neil’s point that grocery isn’t just about selling food. It’s about making the entire Prime ecosystem more valuable. I also spoke with Amazon’s communications team ahead of the episode and learned that the company is using dedicated refrigerated storage within its German distribution centers, with plans to expand into more countries in the coming months. Neil called Germany something of an acid test for the model, and I agree. If Amazon can make this work in one of Europe’s toughest grocery markets, the implications could be enormous. (Source)
Is This the End of the Smart Cart as We Know It?
And finally, back to Instacart! Just days before the DoorDash announcement, the company revealed it would be winding down its Caper Cart business, citing slower-than-expected retailer adoption. Neil didn’t hold back on this one. He’s long been skeptical of smart carts, arguing that they’re expensive, overly complicated solutions to problems retailers can often solve more simply. Between maintenance costs, charging requirements, and the challenges of getting shoppers to actually use them, he questioned whether the economics ever really made sense.
But I’m not quite ready to declare the smart cart dead! I still see real potential in identifying shoppers when they enter a store, enabling personalized recommendations, retail media, and better shopping experiences. The question is whether retailers need an expensive, high-tech cart to accomplish all that. We discussed lower-cost alternatives like Shopreme’s Snap Cart technology, including its plans with Auchan Romania, and the potential for better smartphone integration. So no, I won’t be dancing on the smart cart’s grave just yet! But perhaps we’re seeing the end of the large, overengineered versions we’ve known so far. (Source) (Source)
A huge thank you to Neil Saunders for joining me this week and bringing such thoughtful analysis to these conversations.
As always, I’d love to hear what YOU think. Will DoorDash and Instacart get their deal over the line? Can Amazon disrupt Germany’s grocery market? And are smart carts really on their way out?
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Be careful out there,
Ben and the entire Omni Talk Team
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Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.