Dive Brief:
- Instacart’s new suite of advertising solutions, Instacart Promotions, allows brand partners to independently launch new deal structures, incentives and promotions with the company’s Instacart Ad campaigns, according to a Wednesday press release.
- Instacart Promotions includes two new capabilities — Coupons and Stock Up & Save — as part of the several savings options brands can provide customers.
- This is the latest development for Instacart as it builds out its advertising arm. Advertising and retail media have gained steam in the grocery industry as lucrative, alternative revenue streams for companies.
Dive Insight:
Instacart Promotions aims to streamline finding savings on the shopping platform by giving CPG brands self-service access to help them create promotions. With the new tools, brands can have savings appear on product item cards prior to checkout.
"With the launch of our new Instacart Promotions, all of our brand partners now have the ability to set up coupons and promotions that can drive meaningful business results while also passing on more savings opportunities to consumers,” Ali Miller, Instacart’s vice president of ads product, said in the announcement.
In addition to the Coupons and Stock Up & Save features, Instacart Promotions plans to roll out more advertising structures for brands over the next few months, including free gifts and Buy One, Get One. These deal structures will help brands set up free sample programs to attract new consumers and create more personalized discounts for different customer segments like “new to category” and “new to brand,” according to the press release.
Sampling has become a growing trend among e-commerce retailers. It is also a prime way to encourage product discovery among consumers.
A number of brands served as pilot partners for Instacart Promotions, including Athletic Brewing, Sola Company, General Mills and Wells Enterprises.
Now available to all brands, Instacart Promotions can be accessed through the company’s Ads Manager, where companies can manage numerous ad formats and create custom landing pages.
Instacart said the new suite will help fuel discovery of promotions. That emphasis on savings comes at a time when customers are weathering ongoing high food prices.
The launch of this new advertising suite builds on a number of other advertising updates Instacart has made over the past few months, including new shoppable ad units, a new tech platform that lets retailers sell ads on their sites and the debut of the Instacart Tastemakers program, which lets creators monetize purchases made from their content.