Food Delivery Service Instacart enters the On-Demand Grocery Business

Call it the Netflix of grocery shopping or call it what you want, but instant grocery delivery is now in a in or expanding to, a city near you. In January 2015, $220 million in funding was awarded to Instacart, a company promising to have groceries delivered, to users, in an hour. instacart has since launched nationally, in the USA, and plans spread its wings overseas. Unlike Amazon that relies on warehouses to store goods, Insacart uses personal shoppers inside of each store, in your area, who deliver your groceries from local stores, in as little as an hour.

As an example of its growth: presently, there are 550 in the DC metro area and around 30 in Baltimore, where the service just launched today.

(Left stores available in Philadelphia's 19004 zipcode)

How does the Instacart service work?

You are able to choose from 3 delivery options:

Under 1 Hour, Under 2 Hours, and Schedule for Later, which allows you to choose dates up to 1 week in advance within a 1-hour window.

Prices vary, but for Under 2 Hour delivery with over $35 worth of groceries, delivery is $6.

You can also sign up for Instacart Express, their grocery delivery membership, where all of your 2-hour and scheduled grocery deliveries over $35 are free for just $99 per year with a 14-day free trial.

1. Put items in cart by clicking boxes in an app (no lists needed). You can search for comparable items in area stores that participate. Ex: How much is a 20 ounce ketchup in Harris Teeter versus PriceRite? You choose and comparison shop. Even some liquor delivery is being orchestrated city by city, riveling companies like Drizly.