Instacart’s Commitment to Affordability

As grocery prices continue to weigh on families across North America, we’re doubling down on affordability and convenience – core to our mission of giving everyone access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it.

This year, we’ve focused heavily on encouraging more retailers to move toward in-store and online price parity, working closely with partners to remove markups and align online prices with in-store. And that work is paying off. Over the past year, retailers offering same-as-in-store pricing have grown more than 10 percentage points faster than those with markups – and they retain customers better on our platform. We also know affordability is the biggest barrier to online grocery adoption, so we’re partnering with retailers to lower prices and make services like Instacart accessible to more consumers.

Partners that have moved toward price parity on Instacart include Pattison Food Group banners – Buy-Low Foods, Nesters Market, and Save-On-Foods – as well as Best Buy, Heritage Grocers Group, Home Depot Canada, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Schnucks, Ulta Beauty and regional grocers like Choices Market and Jerry’s. Several national grocers have also begun price-parity pilots in major markets such as Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa, and Tucson. We’ve also seen other national retail partners in the U.S. and Canada lower their online markups across the Instacart Marketplace and on their Instacart-powered websites.

And affordability extends beyond pricing. To help customers discover savings every day, we’ve expanded our suite of affordability features:

• Digital Flyers & Loyalty: Loyalty integrations and Weekly Flyers bring more discounts, unique savings and other benefits online.

• $10 Minimum Basket: Instacart+ members get $0 delivery fees on grocery orders as low as $10* – the lowest minimum in the industry.

• More Payment Options: Instacart was the first online marketplace to accept EBT SNAP in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

• More Delivery Options: No-rush and next-day delivery, as well as free pickup, offer additional low-cost choices.

• Instacart+: Members – including trial memberships – enjoy $0 grocery delivery fees*. Annual Instacart+ members can take advantage of additional Instacart benefits, including a subscription to Peacock and a one-year subscription to New York Times Cooking at no additional cost. Instacart+ members can also share $0 delivery fees* with up to three linked accounts.

This focus on affordability is delivering measurable impact. From January 2023 through June 2025, we’ve helped Instacart customers save more than $3 billion through deals, discounts, and loyalty programs.

While we have made real progress working with our retail partners to drive affordability through loyalty integrations, same-as-in-store pricing, and more – retail partners on our platform control their pricing strategies. Some choose to apply online markups to help offset the cost of providing same-day delivery to customers. To ensure customers can make the most informed choices when buying groceries from their favorite retailers, we display every retailer’s pricing policy on their Instacart storefront so customers know when prices may differ from in-store and can easily compare across retailers.

Additionally, just as retailers have long tested prices in physical stores to understand what resonates with customers, a small subset of our retail partners – 10 U.S. retail partners that already choose to apply markups – use Instacart’s Eversight technology to run limited online pricing tests. These short-term, randomized tests help retail partners understand category-level price sensitivity so they can sustainably invest in lower prices where consumers care most. For example, as a result of these tests, some consumers may see slightly lower prices on essentials like milk or bread, and slightly higher prices on items like specialty snacks or craft beverages.

Most importantly, these short-term, randomized tests follow strict guardrails: 

• These tests are not dynamic pricing – prices never change in real-time, including in response to supply and demand

• These tests never use personal, demographic, or user-level behavioral data 

• These tests are not designed to increase the average markup set by a retail partner

We’ll continue to stay laser-focused on making Instacart an affordable, high-quality option. Whether through expanding same-as-in-store pricing, increasing access to savings, or providing clear information about how pricing works, we remain committed to delivering the best, most affordable experience possible to consumers.

*Service and other fees apply. Costco orders $35+.