Instacart tripled its smart cart store count this year
Instacart’s smart carts are in triple the number of stores this year than they were in 2024, the company told Modern Retail.
The carts, called Caper Carts, are now deployed in 100 cities in 15 states and more than a dozen retailer banners, according to Instacart. In the U.S., that includes nearly 20% of Wakefern Food Corp. stores, including ShopRite, Price Rite and The Fresh Grocer locations. It also includes some Geissler’s, Good Food Holdings, Sprouts Farmers Market, Schnucks and Wegmans stores, plus other local and independent grocers.
Just this year, the company announced the launch of Caper Carts at a Coles Supermarkets location in Australia and at a Morrisons store in the U.K. Also in 2025, ShopRite and Schnucks expanded the smart carts into additional stores.
The carts sit in a stack of carts on a charger, so customers grab them like they normally would. The carts have a screen where shoppers log on with their loyalty card via their phone number or a keychain with a barcode. Then they scan items as they put them in the cart, and the cart displays a running total so customers can track spending as they go. The carts can also display advertising, grocery lists, and recommend products and coupons.
Instacart’s business case for deploying the carts is that they will lift revenue for retailers by displaying more targeted advertising and promotions right in front of customers as they shop. It’s also a data play, as retailers can leverage online data toward customers in stores and use data generated by cameras on the carts to drive marketing decisions.
“The inflection point and the scaling we’re seeing in the market really sit at the intersection of going very deep with retailers to build around behaviors specific to their store. Then, [it’s about] activating the retailer value levers that many retailers share — sales lift, retail media — but also the value levers that are specific to that partner,” said David McIntosh, chief connected stores officer at Instacart. “That’s how we’re investing with our retailer partners as we scale with them.”
Instacart acquired Caper Cart maker Caper AI for $350 million in 2021. It launched its Connected Stores enterprise suite, including a new model of the Caper Cart, in 2022. The company doesn’t share the Carts’ cost, which varies by retailer, but it usually sells them alongside other enterprise solutions such as its FoodStorm deli or bakery ordering platform, Carrot Tags electronic shelf label software, or Storefront e-commerce software.
While some of the growth is attributable to new launches, much of it comes from expansion with existing retailers, McIntosh said. He added that existing chains have added carts to more stores after seeing demand from customers who saw the carts on social media (such as in popular TikTok videos of the carts being used), or demand from store managers who have seen a sales lift, increased coupon usage or increased retail media revenue from stores that have had the carts.
Additionally, some grocers that decided not to adopt the carts two years ago because the technology was too new have now come back to Instacart wanting to launch because they’ve seen more results.
“They’re hearing from other retailers where it’s working,” McInstosh said. “They’re hearing the retailers say, ‘Look, my customers love it.’ They’re seeing the TikTok videos going viral online. They’re seeing those other retailers generate sales lift. They’re seeing those retailers generate retail media revenue. They’re adopting it because they’re seeing the results; they’re seeing the consumer pull in the market.”
McIntosh said that when he talks to shoppers about the carts, they’ll often say they most love the running total feature, in addition to the coupon recommendations.
“It seems so basic, but the vast majority of Americans are shopping on budgets, and nobody wants to go to the checkout line and have to put something back,” McIntosh said. “Sure, you get to skip the checkout line, but one of the key things we realized in the last nine to 12 months … [is] it’s really the screen where a lot of the value is; it’s the coupons, it’s the running total, it’s the recommendations, it’s the list.”
However, Chris Walton, a former Target vp and co-CEO of retail blog Omni Talk, said grocery executives he’s talked to have said that, although the user experience of the carts is good, it is difficult to get shoppers to use them.
“The question of the value is still fairly unproven, in terms of what it’s going to mean for your overall top and bottom line,” Walton said. “I think your money is better spent investing in things that improve the efficiency of your store operations and just impact your actual retail operation itself, versus asking your customer to adopt something new and unproven in this time of turmoil.”
He said he would rather store operators prioritize technology for inventory and store management solutions, such as robots that can scan shelves for missing products or software that determines which actions your employees should take in the store on any given day to improve revenue and profit.
“Driving the top line is really what grocers should be focused on right now,” Walton said. “You’ve got to figure out a way to take more cost out of your operations, day in and day out, and so, whether that’s making your employees more productive and/or figuring out ways to save money in whatever it takes to run the building.”