SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced a series of retail expansions that will allow customers to use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to shop online for groceries for same-day delivery from Food City, Gordon Food Service, Hy-Vee, Schnucks, and additional Kroger banners including Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Marianos, Metro Market, Pick n’ Save, Smith’s and QFC.
The new retail expansions help make groceries more accessible to more SNAP families, allowing them to save time and maximize their budgets. Instacart now offers online SNAP acceptance from more than 170 retail banners spanning more than 14,000 stores, reaching 96% of SNAP households in the U.S.1
Research published by No Kid Hungry, the University of Kentucky, and Instacart revealed that online grocery shopping offers significant advantages for low-income households, including SNAP families. The study found shopping online helps families extend food budgets, maximize time savings, and reduce stress. The study also revealed that individuals who grocery shopped online purchased more produce than in-store shoppers, without increasing their total grocery bill.2
“We’re committed to offering families access to fresh food through an accessible and affordable online shopping and delivery experience. By expanding with retailers, we’re giving SNAP families greater dignity of choice, and helping many experience – for the first time – the convenience of having groceries from these retailers delivered to their doorstep,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, Vice President and General Manager of Instacart Health.
“The USDA reported that 41% of SNAP households have kids.3 We’re proud to bring SNAP online with these trusted retailers, helping ease the grocery shopping burden for caregivers by offering greater value, and unparalleled online selection and choice to SNAP families across the country.”
To use SNAP benefits to shop from the more than 170 retail banners available on Instacart, customers can simply add their SNAP payment card to their Instacart profile. At checkout, SNAP users can select how much of their benefit they would like to allocate to eligible items in their order.
Instacart offers a discounted Instacart+ membership for SNAP participants, designed to give families access to same-day delivery and pickup from Instacart’s more than 1,400 retail banners across the country. Through the program, anyone who has used an EBT SNAP card to purchase groceries on Instacart can get Instacart+ for 50% off for 12 months (terms apply*). With Instacart+, households can access free delivery and pickup on orders over $35, 5% credit back on eligible pickup orders, and reduced service fees on every order.
About Instacart
Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging brands – partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit www.instacart.com.
1 Based on the number of people in the U.S. enrolled in SNAP (USDA) in 2022. Instacart estimate (as of January 2024) based on the number of EBT SNAP households in areas serviced by EBT SNAP-enabled retailers on Instacart.
2 Anderson Steeves, E., DeWitt, E., Gillespie, R., Trude, A., Gustafson, A., “Barriers and facilitators to online grocery shopping among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participants: A Mixed Method Study”. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, accepted for publication 2022 https://www.nokidhungry.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/NKH-Instacart-Online-Shopping-Micro-Report-v2.pdf
3 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “Percentage of Participating SNAP Households with Children (FY 2018)” https://www.fns.usda.gov/SNAP-State-characteristics
*To be eligible for the one year Instacart+ EBT promotional offer, you must place an EBT order on Instacart in the six months prior to redeeming this offer. You’ll pay the discounted rate for the first year and the applicable membership fee thereafter. You can cancel anytime. For active Instacart+ members, discount applies after your current membership term ends. Terms apply.
