Weeks after adding Trader Joe’s, Instacart now supports Whole Foods

Jessica grabbed me at the YC din last night and told me excitedly that she had some good news. I was sort of hoping it would be something more exciting, but it was that Instacart had added Whole Foods.<p>Instacart is one of those cos like HelloFax and Uber and Zappos (and Google for that matter) that people spontaneously mention to their friends in conversation: "You have to try it." That is a very good threshold for a company to cross.

My girlfriend and I have been using Instacart for quite some time now. Overall, the experience has been fantastic, mainly because of a bunch of free-delivery offers. While I really, really hope they stick around (especially with the addition of Whole Foods), almost every order has had some small problem. Usually these are substitutions of the items I really wanted, but occasionally we've gotten items that we didn't order. We weren't charged for the extras, and their customer service is <i>absolutely</i> top-notch. If anyone from Instacart is reading: please be careful to maintain your quality standards as you scale! I'm OK with the price premium and even delivery fees, as long as it's backed up with the current level of service. Great job, and good luck!

What is the "slight margin" they add? 5%? 10%?<p>We have used Peapod a few times, a grocery delivery service here in the Northeast serviced by Stop and Shop. I couldn't figure out how they offered it so cheaply, as the prices are the same they are in stores. They charge delivery ($7) though you can often get offer codes.<p>Then I found out that apparently orders are serviced from a separate warehouse, where everything is categorized and optimized for online orders. It makes sense -- I couldn't picture guys walking through the store collecting 10 carts worth of orders.<p>Unfortunately even though it was only slightly more pricey, it still added to much to our household costs since groceries are such a huge part of a family's budget (avg family of 4 spends $770/mo). Not to mention delivery added on to the cost as well.

Try marketing this to paleo dieters, but go a step further. The buyer sets a budget and rough guidelines but otherwise instacart makes all the food decisions. Real hunter gatherers didn't have a lot of choice in their meals!

Who is Instacart's target market? Are people really too busy to go to the grocery store and are willing to pay a premium for delivery? Amazon works because their items are actually cheaper than retail. If Amazon items were priced at a premium, few would use it. I personally enjoy grocery shopping. It's a relaxing break from my day. I like picking out my own produce and cuts of meat. I don't think it's something many people would be willing to outsource.

Most of the big supermarkets in the UK have had this service for a while. I use the ASDA (owned by Walmart) home grocery delivery every week and it's a great service!<p>Tesco, Sainsburys and Iceland also offer this service. I've worked with two of these supermarkets to build the ecommerce platform that powers this (as a Java consultant).<p>I'm surprised this is exciting news in the US!

This is awesome. I probably won't go to the grocery again.

I would love to use InstaCart. Their interface is leagues above what my Safeway offers, and I'd love to get TJ/WF stuff as well.<p>Only issue - I'm out of their delivery range - I'm desperately waiting for expansion.

I needed Advil today at my client site in Arizona and wished desperately that I could use Instacart. Also wanted to buy my girl some simple flowers and get them sent to her back home in L.A... FTD minimum for flowers is like $50 - there are so many times I wish I could use this service... can't wait to see how it takes off and expands to more products and areas.

This leaked in their iPhone app update release notes a day or two ago. I was surprised to see no one seemed to notice for a bit!

Nice work, this is really starting to get interesting! WebVan reborn, but with better selection and hopefully a more sustainable business plan. Unfortunately, I live in Los Altos Hills. Palo Alto and Mountain View are in the coverage area, but as usual when it comes to delivery, we are not.

Just tried it and the website had <i>extremely</i> slow response in both Chrome and Firefox. It would basically show the first line of pics and then go to a blank window with small scroll thumb on the left (?why?) and never respond again.

I'd be interested to hear how well this works with produce. In the past I've had qualms about using things like Safeway delivery - I'd end up with mushy fruit and wilted vegetables.

Congrats, Apoorva. Now, when is it coming to the East Bay? :)

Instacart needs to team up with USPS. I am sure USPS wouldn't mind delivering groceries instead of junk mails.

The economics don't work. Something like FreshDirect is a much more viable business IMO.

Good product/market fit I think.

Does anybody know which regulation they are running into on alcohol delivery?

Only SF and Mountain View/Palo Alto. That's not helpful to me unfortunately.