Instacart Expands Same-Day Delivery To SNAP Beneficiaries
Instacart is rolling out a series of retail expansions that will bring the company’s same-day delivery services to a broader segment of the population that uses Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to shop online for groceries.
Shoppers using SNAP at 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 now have access to Instacart services.
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., company officials said.
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.
"We're committed to offering families access to fresh food through an accessible and affordable online shopping and delivery experience,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president and general manager of Instacart Health. “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."
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. 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.
