Instacart Unveils Holiday Ad Campaign
Instacart Unveils Holiday Ad Campaign
eGrocery sales hit $8.5B, Canoo delivers vans, gig work apps ranked
Ahh, Monday! Before we get to some big grocery news, we want to remind folks that on Tuesday we’ll be hosting a delivery and mobility happy hour in the LA Arts District. See you there!
Today:
lnstacart’s Here to Save the Holidays
eGrocery Sales Up in October
Chart Time | Top Gig Working Apps
Canoo Delivers OK Van
3PD | Instacart Wants to Be The Holiday Rescue App
It’s a week and a half before Thanksgiving, four weeks until Hanukkah, six weeks until Christmas and… a day after Diwali (oops): must be the perfect time to launch the holiday ad campaigns! Instacart is celebrating the festive season by rolling out a new marketing blitz that says: Don’t Panic, Just Instacart: ‘Tis the Season to Tap Into “The Holiday Rescue App.” This will be the most extensive holiday campaign the 3PD has launched, running for seven weeks until Jan 1. The company is also playing Santa to its Shopper community, giving away groceries for a year to 52 gig workers (with better odds for those that complete more orders during the busy holiday period.)
The Big Picture: Instacart is going all-out on this campaign, which was created by its in-house Creative Studio and Marketing teams. Ads will run on linear TV, OTT / streaming, search, YouTube, social / influencer, audio, direct mail, and via CRM channels. Playing into its strengths, Instacart is also teaming up with a number of its iconic brand partners — Campbell’s, Conagra Brands, Diageo, Edwards Desserts, Hormel Foods, Kodiak, McCormick, Molson Coors, Mondelez, and Moet Hennessy, Hershey, Kellogg’s, and Mars Wrigley — with those CPGs also integrating “Holiday Rescue App” into their messaging.
ORDERING | Online Grocery Sales Climb 5% to $8.2 Billion
Online grocery sales grew 5% year over year, hitting $8.2 billion in October. Breaking it down by category, delivery rocketed to $3.3B and pickup managed to grow to $3.5B, but ship-to-home shrunk to $1.4B. Growth looks even more solid when compared to last month, when Brick Meets Click showed eGrocery falling to $7.5 billion.
The Big Picture: Not all grocery categories are performing equally — with mass discounters like Walmart growing 29%, ahead of traditional supermarkets. Overall order volume fell 3%, with higher order value driving sales gains. And the slippage in ship-to-home shows just how hard a category meal kits have become, if last week’s going-concern warning from Blue Apron wasn’t obvious enough.
CHART TIME | Uber Driver Tops Gig Work Apps
PYMNTS put out its monthly ranking of the the top gig working apps, and Uber’s driver program came out on top, followed by DoorDash, Fiverr, Instacart and Etsy. Methodology includes channel coverage, up-to-date downloads, monthly average users, sessions per user and average session length. It was a tough month for Amazon Flex, the ecommerce giant’s program that lets gig workers deliver packages for it, as the program dropped by a whopping 24 points.
VEHICLES | Canoo Delivers First Oklahoma-Made EVs
Topsy-turvy EV startup Canoo achieved a major milestone today, as it delivered its first Oklahoma City-made electric vans to a fitting client: the State of Oklahoma. The state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services is getting the keys to its first “Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle,” with Canoo promising to ramp up production and deliveries in 2024. Other customers eagerly awaiting their vans include Walmart, Schindler, and multiple agencies of the U.S. government. While Oklahoma might not be the sexiest customer, it’s welcome news that Canoo can trumpet a day before its next quarterly earnings report (which is expected to show another quarter of big losses on minute revenue.)
The Big Picture: Canoo’s history has had more exciting twists and turns than actual vehicles delivered… starting back with its founding in 2017, under the name Evolozcity, when two German automotive and finance execs jumped ship from Faraday Future, another struggling EV upstart. While the company originally planned to make autonomous outdoor activity-oriented shuttles, the focus switched to delivery vans as the company burned cash from its 2020 SPAC listing. Canoo nominally relocated to Arkansas as part of its complicated deal with Walmart (although perusing LinkedIn, it sure looks like most employees are still located in SoCal) and picked Oklahoma for manufacturing after securing $113M in subsidies. With its stock languishing at 25 cents a share and less than $5M in cash on hand as of June, the jury is still out on if you’ll be seeing these vans make a delivery near you.
A Few Good Links
Uber shares new driver-oriented safety functions. DoorDash unveils enhanced alcohol delivery protocols. Grubhub awards grants to 82 AAPI biz. HNGRY reports Nash is losing DoorDash Drive integration in mid-Dec. White House manages to slash $127B in student debt, expected to aid consumer spending. Walmart expands sensory-friendly store hours. Ports of LA & LB offer $60M in clean truck vouchers. Feds mull trucker overtime pay. Old Dominion raises LTL rates. Pilot spending $1B on remodels. Paris Baguette expands to TN. Pizza Hut collabs with Chain on seasonings. Kroger trumpets lowered prices on T-giving essentials. Bakery brand Flowers Foods sees sales rise 3.5% in Q3. Subway, Starbucks oust Brazilian operator. General Atlantic swallows Joe & the Juice. Plaza Azteca dinged for not paying OT. Chamber of Commerce sues NLRB over joint employer rule. McDonald’s models new Crocs partnership. INRIX acquires Ride Report.
Last call - join us Tuesday evening in DTLA for our industry happy hour!
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