SAN FRANCISCO, CA & SALT LAKE CITY, OH – Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, announced that Associated Food Stores (AFS), a retail co-op, is bringing Instacart’s white-label e-commerce solutions, Storefront and Storefront Pro, across five owned and operated banners and over 40 member-owned banners. Through this partnership, AFS will bring e-commerce and retail media capabilities to its owned and operated banners, including Fresh Market, Lin’s, and Macey’s, and independent member stores, including Broulim’s, Davis Food & Drug, Kent’s, and Lee’s, providing them with a simple and fast way to expand into online grocery.
“We’re excited to partner with AFS to bring our white-label e-commerce solutions and retail media monetization to their owned and operated stores and independent retail banners,” said Nick Nickitas, General Manager of Independent Grocery and Mid-Market Retail Partnerships at Instacart, in the recent release. “AFS has always championed innovation for local grocers, and together we’re scaling their digital transformation. With Instacart, AFS retailers are providing a seamless, connected shopping experience for their guests in-store and online, while maximizing retail media contribution to enhance profitable growth.”
“Partnering with Instacart gives our local, independent retailers the ability to offer their shoppers a world-class online shopping platform – one that meets or exceeds what other regional or national grocers are doing today,” said Jason Sokol, Vice President of Marketing at AFS. “With Storefront Pro, retailers have access to Carrot Ads, which fuels new opportunities for retail media growth while providing guests with a simple, reliable way to shop their favorite local stores online.”
“Instacart’s Storefront Pro has allowed us to go online quickly and confidently with a best-in-class e-commerce solution that delivers strong growth and revenue opportunities,” said CJ Davis, President of Davis Food & Drug. “With Instacart’s premium white-label e-commerce solution, we saw a 24% increase in sales and our monthly retail media revenue grew by 2-3x with Instacart’s retail media solution Carrot Ads1.”
As a Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) member, AFS is also leveraging Carrot Ads as their retail media network, providing in-store and online retail media revenue opportunities for owned and operated and member retailers using Storefront Pro and Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered smart cart.
This AFS partnership builds on their member retailers’ existing partnership with Instacart to bring the company’s enterprise-grade suite of technology to deliver a unified, seamless, and personalized experience to their customers in-store and online:
- Davis Food & Drug introduced Caper Carts to all stores in 2024 in addition to Carrot Tags, Instacart’s electronic shelf label software.
- Stewart’s Marketplace debuted Caper Carts in 2024, along with Carrot Tags, earlier this year.
- Soelberg’s Market launched Caper Carts in 2024. This year, Soelberg’s has expanded its e-commerce presence, joining the Instacart App and powering their owned and operated website with Instacart’s premium white-label e-commerce solution, Storefront Pro.
Storefront and Storefront Pro provide AFS’ grocery banners and independent members with a solution to expand e-commerce capabilities. Retailers enabling Storefront Pro will also unlock new retail media capabilities by giving them access to Instacart Carrot Ads, allowing them to monetize their digital and physical footprints through a unified retail media network. AFS member retailers join over 350 Storefront and Storefront Pro customers, along with hundreds of catering storefronts too, powered by Foodstorm.
To learn more about Instacart Storefront and Storefront Pro, visit: https://www.instacart.com/company/retailer-platform/storefronts.
