Online Firm Offers One-Hour Delivery From Local Supermarkets
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new online service in the Philadelphia area allows customers to place grocery orders at Whole Foods supermarkets and receive their items in about an hour.
Aditya Shah, head of expansion at Instacart, says the service is like Grub Hub (online restaurant delivery service) but for groceries. And, he adds, you get your items delivered on the same day, by a personal shopper who brings them to you in his or her own vehicle.
Shah (photo below) says there is a charge for the service that varies by your level of need.
"Anything above $35 is $3.99 for a two-hour window," he explains. "Now, if you want it in one hour, it will be $14.99 for the delivery fee."
He says the Instacart prices include a small markup to help cover the cost of the operation.
"Our prices will be a little different than what you would see at the grocery store," Shah tells KYW Newsradio. "Part of that reason is we use that price to give a commission back to the shoppers who are actually picking up your order."
He says Instacart focuses on customer service.
"For us, that's all we care about: making sure that our shoppers know how to pick the right avocados, how to make sure that the eggs are not cracked, or to make sure they pull the milk from the back of the fridge to make sure the latest expiry date is there. Things like that is what we focus on and what we train our shoppers on."