Instacart Launches in South Bay

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - December 09, 2015) - Instacart (www.Instacart.com), the fast-growing retail delivery service whose personal shoppers hand pick and deliver items from trusted local stores, announced today that it has expanded into the South Bay. Beginning today, customers can order from Whole Foods Market, Costco, Petco, Smart & Final, and Ralphs and have everything delivered by Instacart in as little as one hour. Instacart customers do not need a Costco membership to shop from that store.

"After an influx of requests for service in the Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and other South Bay communities, we're thrilled to give residents the opportunity to purchase quality goods from brands they trust," said Sean Twersky, General Manager of Southern California at Instacart. "In today's on-demand world, customers love the convenience of getting super-fast delivery from their favorite national and local stores, and we're proud to provide that service."

Smart & Final has a stellar reputation as being one of the premier value chains on the West Coast, offering a wide assortment of high-quality items at low warehouse prices."We're excited to kickoff this delivery partnership in the South Bay today," said Mike Laddon, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Smart & Final. "We look forward to providing more customers with quality food and everyday staples in both warehouse club sizes and smaller, more convenient sizes, all at a great value."

Petco is a leading pet specialty retailer that focuses on nurturing powerful relationships between people and pets. "Our goal is to make life easier and more convenient for pet parents by offering on-demand pet supplies through PetcoNow™, powered by Instacart," said Michael Zuna, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer at Petco. "We're thrilled to expand this service to our customers in the South Bay, providing everything they need to be great pet parents, including more time to spend with their pets."

Initial delivery includes nine zip codes in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and the surrounding communities: 90245, 90266, 90254, 90278, 90503, 90277, 90505, 90260, and 90250.

Originally launched in San Francisco, and since expanded into many other cities, Instacart has fundamentally changed the traditional grocery delivery space by connecting customers with personal shoppers who shop for and deliver grocery orders in as little as one hour. This eliminates the need for costly infrastructure such as inventory, warehouses and trucks. In January 2015, Forbes named Instacart "America's Most Promising Company."

How Instacart works: Customers go online to www.Instacart.com or open the Instacart mobile app on their iPhone or Android device, select their city/store, add items to a virtual cart, and then choose a delivery window (within one hour, within two hours, or some scheduled time in the future) and check out. An Instacart Personal Shopper accepts the order on his/her smartphone, uses the Instacart Shopper app to guide them through shopping, and then delivers the order to the customer in the designated delivery timeframe.

New customers can open an account at www.Instacart.com. The first delivery is free and for other FAQs, visit https://www.instacart.com/faq.

About Instacart

Instacart allows people to order groceries online by connecting them with personal shoppers who hand pick items at customers' local, favorite stores and deliver straight to their doors. Founded in San Francisco in 2012, Instacart has quickly scaled to 18 metropolitan areas across the U.S. and partnered with dozens of grocery retailers, including popular national chains (Whole Foods Market, Costco, Petco) as well as local, regional grocers (Marsh Supermarkets, Bi-Rite, Plum Market). By combining a personal touch with cutting-edge technology, Instacart offers customers a simple solution to save time and eat fresh food from the grocery brands they trust. Instacart is the only grocery service that can meet today's on-demand lifestyle by delivering in as little as one hour. First delivery is free at www.Instacart.com.