Instacart adds Trader Joe's

I wonder what the ROI would be if they hired graphic designers to make some really snazzy thumbnails for each item? By extension, I'd be really interested in how effectively they could push extra items, similarly to how Amazon does it.<p>* "Adding avocados to your cart? Add [several guacamole ingredients] at a 10% discount, and we'll email you a free recipe."<p>* "Want to make your own guacamole? Add these [several items] and we'll email you a free recipe."<p>* "Browse these popular shopping lists"<p>* Possibly a "buy now" button on a recipe site that automatically added all of the required ingredients to your cart.<p>I could see a service like this sapping more of my money than Whole Food's prepared food section.<p>(I'm in Boston, so I haven't signed up for their site - do they do any of this already?)

I'm intrigued by Instacart. Part of me realizes that Webvan had it right all those years ago, and another part of me thinks this model can't scale.<p>The best ideas are the ones that teeter on the the edge of improbability. Watching the success (or failure) of this company is like watching NASCAR. Keep making those left turns until something blows up or you win the Cup.<p>Win or Lose, I'm glad someone is trying this idea. The Instacart folks just might have enough hustle to pull this off.<p>Wishing you folks lots of luck!

Does Instacart really try to force you to sign in before you even get to their webpage? Am I doing something wrong?<p><a href="http://imgur.com/UE0RI" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/UE0RI</a><p>I guess I'm supposed to click "learn more", but this isn't intuitively an alternative to signing in, nor is it satisfying.

I love the idea but I'm skeptical about the ability to scale.<p>I do think grocery shopping is definitely in need of a large dose of increased efficiency. It dawned on me last time I went grocery shopping with my wife and son just how much time and effort can be wasted grocery shopping.<p>1. We drove to the store. 2. Walked around the store getting everything. 3. Checked out and put all our stuff in bags. 4. Put the bags in the car, drove home. 5. Took the bags from the car into the house. 6. Emptied the bags and put everything away where it belongs.<p>Steps 1-5 should be eliminated by some sort of automation. Services like Peapod are starting to do this, but they're quite a bit more expensive.<p>When you think about it, you have a large number of people within a certain radius of a local grocery store all buying items from that store on a regular basis, but usually driving there themselves over and over.<p>Seems like it would be more efficient (in an ideal world) to have the store make regular rounds (like the mailman does) to the houses with their orders.

So hard to "order" fruit and veggies, though. You say you want flat leaf parsley, but you get delivered a sad bunch of limp &#38; yellowing leaves. If I was in the store, I'd get curly parsley if it looked better.

I switched from monthly Costco visits to soap.com and won't go back. Now Instacart looks like it will save me some of those Safeway and Trader Joe trips, too. More weekend free time!

Please add whole foods or berkeley bowl or some other place with decent produce (nob hill in MV is ok) -- Safeway is great for national packaged food, Trader Joe's for private label frozen stuff, but both are weak for produce, meat, fish, deli, etc.<p>A drug store might also be good, although Safeway probably has enough of a selection for OTC medication, cleaning/etc. supplies, etc.

Trader Joe's already delivers; so does Safeway. However, I'm surprised that the delivery fee is so cheap ($3.99 for sameday). Safeway currently charges $4.95 for delivery in a 4 hour window the next day.<p>Does Instacart use TJ's/Safeway's prices, or do they set their own prices for each item?

As an instacart user, I can say this is a welcome addition to a much valued service.

As a frequent Trader Joe's customer, it seems like supporting them for something like this would be a bit of a nightmare because the items they carry are constantly changing based on regional supply and demand.

I love Instacart and use the product with our startup probably 2-3times a week. Going to the grocery store takes at least an hour when you consider driving and standing in line. Instacart is like 7-11 - you never plan to a trip to 7-11 and always pay a premium, but it's everywhere and convenient. It's great that if I crave Ben&#38;Jerry's ice cream, I can buy it and have it delivered in under 3 hours. With the added Trader Joe's delivery service, our Instacart usage will probably bump to 4 times a week.

I was really interested in the service and wanted to check it out. It wont let me in without signing up. How do I know they are not a scam site or useless without providing my information. Bad UX. If you want to do business, keep your front door open.

Thank you so much, I needed this so badly. I've been at home with the flu all week and haven't been able to get out to buy groceries. I just placed my order. I can have food now!

Aw yiss.