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Instacart Valued at $10 Billion in Long-Awaited IPO

| Mike O'Brien

Instacart issued its long-expected initial public offering of stock on Tuesday, priced at $30 a share for a valuation of $10 billion, well below the $39 billion it was valued at after a fundraising round in early 2021, but at an offering price low enough to entice retail investors to join the party. The company has been profitable since Q2 2022 despite falling revenue, thanks to various trimming.

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Amazon Expanding Same-Day Capabilities

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon is aggressively expanding same-day delivery capabilities after a major pullback in planned fulfillment facilities which overshot demand when the pandemic boom receded. Feeling the competitive heat, Amazon is redirecting its investments toward smaller hubs closer to customers, making fast delivery a higher priority in 2023.

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Instacart Plans to Launch SMB Service

| Mike O'Brien

Instacart is launching a new service aimed at SMBs, including possibly smaller niche and specialty grocers as well as office supply firms, in a bid to increase revenue lost to major grocers that have taken back fulfillment, as it looks to boost a sagging valuation ahead of an expected IPO.

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Lowe’s Goes Nationwide Same Day with Instacart

| Mike O'Brien

Lowe’s may still be Avis to Home Depot’s Hertz atop the home improvement sector, but it has something the orange big-box giant doesn’t: nationwide same-day delivery through an expansion of a trial that began in February with formerly grocery-only service Instacart in select locations.

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Retail Media Revenue: Are You Ready to Maximize?

| Gregory Stevens

With heady revenue predictions for retail media north of $100 billion, it’s not surprising to see a surge of retailers opening advertising shops in attempts to capture share. But we’re still in the early days, with behemoths scooping up most of the brand spend. Here are six relationship and revenue-building strategies for retailers to consider.

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DoorDash Promises 10-15-Minute Delivery in NYC

| Mike O'Brien

Utilizing a team of employees vs. its bread-and-butter gig workers, DoorDash is rolling out 10-15-minute delivery of 2,000 grocery and essential items in New York from a DashMart store in the Chelsea neighborhood, the company said. Main rival Instacart is also working on a 15-minute delivery service, according to reports.

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E-Grocery Frequency Increasing, Gallup Finds

| Mike O'Brien

Even a year-plus into the pandemic, more U.S. consumers are leaning into e-grocery and less are visiting stores, according to a new study from Gallup, reflecting continued uncertainty and concern among shoppers. Overall, the percentages of consumers using e-grocery remain in the single digits.

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Walmart Concerned About Slipping Grocery Position

| Mike O'Brien

When it comes to the grocery wars, Walmart execs are concerned about the company’s tenuous number one position as well as losing share to fierce competitors, according to brutal self-assessments in a leaked memo and presentation from February obtained by Recode. There are also worries that Instacart is pulling even on e-grocery.

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Walgreens Partners with Instacart

| Mike O'Brien

Walgreens is launching same-day delivery with partner Instacart, starting in Illinois and rolling out to its 8,000 stores nationwide by the spring, beginning with express stops in Southeast Florida, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and New York. Through the partnership, tens of thousands of items can arrive in as little as an hour.

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Instacart Powers Same-Day Delivery for Family Dollar

| Mike O'Brien

Discount retail chain Family Dollar is jumping on the same-day delivery bandwagon through a national partnership with last mile leader Instacart, covering 6,000 of its stores in the U.S., the companies announced. They ran a successful pilot program in late 2020 at 275 Family Dollar stores and are now expanding it nationally.