Instacart’s Cart Less Full as Rivals Enter Market

Key Takeaways:

• Of its grocery delivery cohort, Instacart’s global and US MAU growth has been the strongest, rising 3% YoY in both markets in 2Q23, while Getir and Gorillas saw a drop of 14% YoY and 39% YoY, respectively. Global MAUs for Getir, Gopuff, Gorillas and Shipt were 10.8mn, 1.4mn, 1.1mn and 220k, respectively, in 2Q23

  • Instacart’s QTD 3Q23 MAU YoY growth (~-0.6%) is a deceleration from 2Q23 trends and could mean that reported 3Q23 order growth is also tempered

• As the largest grocery delivery app in the US with 4mn MAUs as of 2Q23, Instacart has a substantial lead over its rivals, though it remains much smaller than restaurant delivery apps such as Uber Eats (35mn) and DoorDash (40mn), who are moving into the space

• One area to watch: sessions and time spent for grocery delivery apps on mobile, which is already well below food delivery; worldwide average session counts fell an average of 21% YoY, 9% and 5% YoY for Getir, Gorillas and Instacart, respectively, over the last six quarters, while time spent also declined significantly. These metrics have historically indicated transaction trends

• Given the many players in the space, we anticipate a growing promotional cadence to increase market share and grow frequency of orders

  • Getir increased its US ad spend by ~300% YoY in 2022, though its US ad spend has since declined by 44% YoY as it shifted its focus to the United Kingdom, per Pathmatics by Sensor Tower data, while Instacart’s total sales and marketing spend in 1H23 remains elevated relative to 1H21 and 2020, per the S1, though lower than 1H22

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