Former Amazon exec rubbishes Instacart claim that future of grocery shopping is Caper smart carts

Instacart is on a mission to revolutionise grocery shopping with its Caper smart carts, according to media reports. The carts, which contain touchscreens, can display advertisements and games that encourage customers to buy more. “Ultimately, where we want to take it is Pokémon GO," an executive recently commented.

Complete nonsense, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “There is a tendency among members of the press who write articles about Instacart to take everything its executives say at face value.”

“Instacart CEO Fidji Simo believes that the “future of grocery shopping” will be the use of smart carts from the company Caper. It acquired Caper in 2021 for $350 million. Instacart claims that it is going to roll-out “thousands” of Caper carts to stores by the end of 2024.”

“Is that true or is it one of the big little lies that company likes to say to give the appearance it is an innovation engine with unlimited growth potential?”

Ladd noted that the grocery cart was introduced in 1937.

“Are we to believe that the best Instacart can come up with to revolutionise grocery shopping is to offer carts with a touchscreen that displays ads and also plays games? And we’re to believe that thousands of the carts will be in use by the end of 2024?”

He continued: “Instacart and members of the press may believe such nonsense but I don’t. After all, let’s not forget that it tried to convince everyone that the company was worth $39 billion. It wasn’t. Instacart is only worth between $2 billion to $4 billion.”

Instead of taking everything said at face value, journalists should ask the following questions, Ladd reckons.

What percentage of Instacart’s grocery clients have expressed an interest in the carts?

How many Caper carts are in use today?

What retailers use Caper carts and how many carts does each retailer have? How much additional revenue did the carts generate?

How much does it cost a retailer to use a Caper cart? Are they charged monthly or annually?

How much money does Instacart lose on every cart?

What is the ROI for a cart?

Ladd argued: “The majority of Instacart’s grocery clients want nothing to do with Caper carts. Note to Instacart: Feel free to provide the answers to my questions in the comments section of this post.”

“Please also provide an update on your attempt at taking control of a Big Y store that has an MFC from Takeoff installed in the store. Are you going to partner with Takeoff on offering MFCs to your grocery clients?Have you assessed Instock.com, Cartesian Kinetics, or AutoStore?”

The future of grocery shopping is not fancier grocery carts, Ladd believes.

Rather, it is being driven by T-Mobile and 345 Global.

“Analysts and executives who attended NRF, told me they were blown away by what they learned from Mark Edwards, the CEO at 345 Global. According to one analyst I spoke with, 345 Global is reinventing how grocery and CPG companies operate, engage with customers, and utilise the most advanced retail platform on the market.”   

He concluded: “As for Instacart, I look for it to be acquired in 2024. PepsiCo, Uber, Target, and DoorDash are among the companies that could acquire the company.”

Instacart did not respond to Ladd’s questions in the comments section of his post.

It also did not get back to us when we requested comment for this article.