Instacart (YC S12) is now not just easier, but cheaper | Hacker News Reader

Instacart (YC S12) is now not just easier, but cheaper

blog.ycombinator.com

28 pointskevingibbon31 comments

"While Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta would not explain exactly where these groceries come from, he guaranteed they are cheaper."

Is Instacart getting into the shoplifting business?

It is not really difficult to imagine this. For example, Safeway near the Caltrain station in SF has exorbitantly priced groceries than Costco or Safeway in Sunnyvale. They maybe using this to their advantage. Hence, for a SF user, it might be cheaper still to use Instacart which in turn gets its groceries from other cheaper stores. And since they do this in bulk, the economies of scale sides with them.

Even in bulk, the cost of transport from Sunnyvale to SF is not trivial.

$200 - if I am getting groceries for 100 users (and making $5 per order), it should be good.

They're not shoplifting, they're buying...used: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/14/why-would-dr...

Instacart's inventory is not shoplifted and not "...used."

I am always surprised at how willing people are to make false allegations that have no basis in fact or observation. What can be gained from such a thing?

garry - fwiw - the whole team cracked up when they saw the comment.

haha. Sorry Garry, my comment was completely fictitious. Not obvious?

I laughed. It was obvious.

It seems that I should give commenters more credit. =) It's often that I read comments (some other ones even in this story) that I literally cannot believe people are willing to post. Sorry about that.

There's a pretty big profit to be made by buying wholesale/in bulk. My second job is running a restaurant and wholesale prices on items can be ridiculously cheap. Think 12 avocados for $5 right now, one case of 50+ for $10-15... and these are even better quality and fresher than the $1-3 you might pay per avocado at the local supermarket. Another example: the Oreos that I like to get on instacart that are often way cheaper than Safeway and are pretty close to the wholesale prices I pay for the restaurant.

All it takes is a sellers permit. (In some cases, like Costco Business Center, just a membership, not even the permit.)

A thought: When prodcuts go "white label", it's often because the company (or supplier) behind them wants the benefit of the sales without the hit to the brand.

So my guess is that they struck a deal with either a particularly eager Safeway/Walmart/Costco/etc. store manager(s) to move increased volume at slightly lower margins or as another commenter suggested, a deal with one of the associated distributors.

The key seems to be the lack of details, which means someone doesn't want us to know where the goods are coming from. This is why I'm guessing an eager manager, etc. who would get heat from "corporate" or "national" for undercutting other stores, or something like that.

Anyway, once again, competition happens, consumers benefit. Good for them/us! :)

The milk and packaged seafood are clearly showing Kroger's brand, so perhaps they quietly struck a deal with Ralphs/Kroger.

Every time I'm out in SFBA, people I meet up with will not shut up about Instacart.

Are you an investor in Instacart? Or otherwise affiliated or connected with the company?

If you are, you might want to disclose that fact when speaking publicly about them.

What the fuck are you talking about?

I've seen you go to great lengths to defend and assist Instacart on HN[1]. I'm asking why you do that.

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5482154

Could you be more of a tool? Literally: the only way you can conceive of someone disagreeing with you on HN is that they must have an undisclosed financial interest? Go fuck yourself.

"the only way you can conceive of someone [defending a company and later posting positive statements about that company] on HN is that they must have an undisclosed financial interest [or other connection or affiliation to the company]?"

Certainly not. That's why I phrased it as a question. A question you have still yet to answer.

You should look through my comment history too then. I clearly have a financial interest in BlackBerry and Instacart based on your logic.

"A question you have still yet to answer."

This comment is not only way out of line, but also false. Do you honestly still not know what the answer to your question is? I think it would be clear to anyone else viewing this thread.

Guessing that either a) they moved themselves up the supply chain or b) they are selling at a loss to try an boost sales (to try and get to A). B worked for Amazon, but it's also been the downfall of a lot of co.'s.

Regardless I wish them best of luck, really like the product!

I tried it out today and it worked great. They call it "Instacart Plus" and it shows up as one of the store options in the dropdown menu, along with Trader Joe's, Costco, etc. The delivery arrived at 1:00pm sharp for the 1-2pm scheduled delivery window.

my theory on this "secret" price savings.

Instacart asks if an item is out of stock if it ok to replace with similar items (might even default to this). Instacart has negotiated deals with product manufacturers directly. Instacart replaces "out-of-stock" products with the discounted products. The manufacturer issues coupons that can be used at the till. Instacart takes most of the savings themselves but also shares a little with the consumer. Win-win-win.

2nd Theory. Apoorva has developed the largest coupon clipping operation to date. Puts "extreme couponing" TV show to shame.

Apoorva's got enough hustle to make the 2nd theory viable. However, he's also lazy like most of us, so that casts doubt on that theory.

I can understand why Instacart may be of value in suburban or rural areas where people likely don't have trivial access to grocery stores, but it seems entirely superfluous for city-dwellers.

Grocery stores are fairly abundant in cities. Within a four-block radius from my house, there is a Jewel, a Whole Foods, four corner stores, and a Trader Joe's under construction. I honestly don't know how Instacart maintains business in San Francisco proper.

Well, I live in SF. As you say, I have several grocery stores within 0.5 miles of my home. The problem? I live on top of a hill; the stores are at the bottom. There is absolutely no way I'm lugging grocery up the hill on foot or on my bike. What about public transport? There is a long wait (muni sucks, esp where I live), and then there is still a bit of lugging to/from the bus stop.

Grocery shopping is literally the only reason I still own a car and pay ridiculous city insurance rates. I don't use it to go to work, meet friends for dinner/drinks, or anything else for that matter.

And then of course, there are times when I couldn't be arsed to go grocery shopping :)

I'm currently in Palo Alto, and I do not have a vehicle, except for a bicycle. I will see how long I can hold out, but so far, I've bought all of my furniture and household items through Amazon and a local dealer, and had them delivered. Groceries come from Instacart.

Tomorrow, I need to go to Ikea to get some other items, since I wasn't a fan of what's available on Amazon, or the pricing on other sites. I plan to use ZipCar.

Instacart is one of the many services that are helping me to lead a car-free lifestyle here in Palo Alto. I'm from Toronto, and I wish I could have accomplished the same when I was there.

I didn't realize no car in Palo Alto+ was doable.

I do the above in SF.

Don't underestimate just how much of a value prop that something like this can bring to the table even if you do live in a city. I think of something like this as an ultimate convenience. Imagine you've had a long day at work, you've got family responsibilities or other plans afterwards, you're tired, you're hungry, etc. The last thing you probably want to do is spend even more time of your already busy schedule shopping for groceries.

Even with grocery stores nearby, you still have to go fight crowds of people, take all the time to find everything on your list, wait in line, wait to get checked out, then get your stuff and walk back to your place. A single trip can be exhausting, and even more so if you're introverted and/or hate dealing with crowds of people. Narrow aisles, the elderly, and annoying loud/crying kids can make for an infuriating trip if you're just trying to get your stuff and go asap.

Or... you could use something like this and have all of this taken care of for you.

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