I was going to post a comment about Instacart here, but instead decided to write a little thing on Medium.
Why Instacart is gonna get crushed by Amazon
https://medium.com/@a13n/why-instacart-is-gonna-get-crushed-...
Why Instacart is gonna get crushed by Amazon
https://medium.com/@a13n/why-instacart-is-gonna-get-crushed-...
Tech: The Dash Wand [1] puts Alexa on your refrigerator and every time you scan an item, Amazon is building up a database of the most popular SKUs they should add to their warehouse.
Scale: Scale is the name of the game and Instacart is playing with a losing hand. Vans/trucks are more efficient than cars, warehouses > grocery stores, robot shelves > store runners.
Anecdote: Instacart was popular in Boston until Fresh opened last year. There is now a large pile of Amazon bags for pickup everyday in my front lobby.
Price: Amazon has many of the exact same items as Instacart/wholefoods but at lower prices. My grocery bill went down about 20%
[1]https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-All-New-Dash-Wand/dp/B015YEXOR...
I initially used Instacart. But then started to notice my orders would often need replacement items. So I opted for no replacements, and it was even worse... because items that were very relevant in my order were left out and I had to order again. In addition, prices were very high compared to the store.
Then, they wouldn't show up on the scheduled times. Then, if you canceled the order and talked to customer support, they would try to uncancel the order and schedule it for a completely arbitrary time where you might not even be home, a lot of decision making on your behalf with no confirmation.
After all that chaos and constant fighting with customer support I switched to Amazon. They show up on time, the use durable packaging that is refrigerated if necessary, the prices are reasonable, item availability is "what you see is what you get" with no replacements, the delivery fee is a flat yearly fee... In all the time I have using Amazon Fresh or Prime now, I have had ZERO arguments with them.
Now I only order from Amazon. In addition to that, they have the Amazon Dash, which I can use to scan the barcodes for the products I need to reorder to quickly add them to the cart, or set reminders for items I need to buy using Amazon Echo.
Note that I am not affiliated with Amazon in any way.
If I had to use Instacart again, I would probably use it to order 20 gallons of water, and then go to the store myself to buy the rest. The website is very incompetent at reflecting the effective stock and the system is not good at finding/suggesting replacements. The last time I used Instacart was to literally see what my last order was, so I could order the same things via Amazon.
Also everyone already has a relationship with Amazon so it's just easier to go that route.
The idea of hooking into some kind of warehouse management network makes a lot of sense. Does an API exist? Probably not. But there's an opportunity right there. Partner with a major warehouse management system, preferably one that works with Safeway or Stop n' Shop, and figure out a way to cut out the store visits altogether.
Of course this would mean automating away the shoppers :/.
Seems inevitable. :/
You select your local supermarket, and it has a pretty good idea of what they actually have because it's an official service. You can also specify per item whether substitutions can be made, and if necessary they'll try to find a good alternative (like your "different salsa") if they can. The times you end up with a substitution or no item sound VERY low compared to your experience with Instacart. You might order 40 items and get a couple of subs if you're unlucky.
It also sounds cheaper than Instacart. It costs around $10USD for delivery (depends on how much your order), or around $3.50USD if you want to collect from the store,which is still super convenient because you just go in and wheel out your already-full trolly.
I'm kind of surprised that supermarkets doing delivery doesn't seem to be a big thing in the US. Usually we're the ones who are a few years behind.
The experience wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't sticky. We never used it again.
I like the idea of warehouses, though the requirement to stock items seems restrictive, kinda like when Google Shopping Express launched - it had such a small selection of products. One potential middle ground... why not use a warehouse/centralized location to aggregate the requested groceries, then have a separate system to dispatch the groceries to the customer? By aggregating from multiple grocery stores, you minimize the risk an item is not available.