Today, the delivery market is one of the most competitive and challenging markets because of the huge participation of businesses. Instacart and FreshDirect are two such delivery businesses. We are discussing Instacart and Fresh Direct. What are their benefits and everything related to their work?
INSTACART
Founded in 2010, Instacart is among the services that provide home delivery of groceries to customers, which can be ordered from their website or the Instacart app. The company was started by Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen, and Brandon Leonardo.
SUBSCRIPTION
A subscription is an amount we pay apart from the order value to be a prime member or to have hassle-free transactions with a company. It also gives a customer huge discounts, coupons, and cashback. The prime subscription of Instamart is $99, which is a yearly prime subscription amount in which a user gets free delivery if they shop for more than $35.
MINIMUM ORDER VALUE
The minimum order value is the minimum amount in which the company agrees to make the delivery. If the order value is lower than the minimum amount, then they don’t accept orders as the delivery needs to be done through various transportation modes and to not make it, companies maintain a minimum order value.
The minimum order value of Instacart is more than $10.
DELIVERY TIME
The delivery time refers to the time taken between placing the order and receiving the same. Instacart promises its customers to deliver the ordered goods in a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 3 hours.
USER EXPERIENCE
The users of Instacart are often found praising the work they are doing on various social media platforms and in surveys that are conducted. During the COVID time when the whole nation was under quarantine, nobody was allowed to leave their home until they needed food supplies or medication.
Instacart helped the natives by providing them with fresh food that they ordered, and it was at a low cost. The charges were minimal, and they could order from anywhere in the shop.
The steps to ordering anything from Instacart are:
Sign up on the app or website. Users can sign up through Google, Facebook, or as a guest. Account authorizationChoose a current location. Browse through the app and add items that are needed. Click on the card and move to the checkout section. Fill in the address with contact details. Move to payment optionsPlace the order.
Instacart has made the user experience simple and completely hassle-free and users don’t need to spend much time searching for the stores and products. The nearest store will already be selected and users just need to add the items and place the order.
FRESHDIRECT
FreshDirect is a company famous for its fresh product delivery in the US and many other states. Founded in 1999 with a clear motto of providing fresh food to customers at a lower price compared to the local market and maintaining their motto, they have always tried to bring more to the customers. They purchase food supplies directly from the farm to reduce costs and mediators. That is one of the reasons the users of FreshDirect have loved the concept.
SUBSCRIPTION
The yearly prime subscription of FreshDirect is $129, in which a customer gets many facilities, along with free deliveries if ordered for more than $30.
MINIMUM ORDER VALUE
The minimum order value of FreshDirect is slightly higher than that of Instacart. The minimum order value of this company is $30 if the amount is less than the customer needs to add an item to complete the transaction value of $30.
DELIVERY TIME
The delivery time which is taken by FreshDirect to deliver the ordered item is a minimum of 5 hours and a maximum of 2 days, and it depends on the availability of the item.
USER EXPERIENCE
To keep the app and website experience as smooth and trouble-free as possible FreshDirect has always worked on improving and making its user experience more comfortable for its customers. The steps to ordering from FreshDirect are:
Sign up on the website/app. Sign-up can be done through a phone number or Google. Verification is required. Select the address for delivery. Select the products that are needed. Select the time slot in which you want the delivery to be made. Proceed to payment options.
To make the experience smooth, FreshDirect employees have always tried to make it hassle-free.
INSTACART VS. FRESHDIRECT
Both the outlets are delivery firms that deliver food and grocery items to their customers’ doorsteps. Choosing between one of them is quite hard because they are both in the same business and both maintain a good business. Differentiation can be done on different things, such as:
Low Cost: Instacart’s minimum order value is $10, whereas for FreshDirect it goes up to $30. Delivery time: The delivery time which is promised by the organization is 3 hours maximum in Instacart and FreshDirect. It can go up to 2 days depending upon the food which has been ordered. Subscription-the subscription cost is less in Instacart and it has gone up to $129 in FreshDirect.
Instacart is a good option for customers looking for faster delivery and lower prices, but FreshDirect is a good option for customers looking for fresh items directly from the farm.
CONCLUSION
Grocery and food delivery businesses are among the businesses that have achieved many success stories in the last decade. Because of COVID-19, when the whole world population was under quarantine, home delivery was the only reason many people survived this pandemic. The US has been home to many start-ups and many innovations in these. There are two companies included whose motto is to provide home delivery to their customers and both are slightly different.
Instacart is a grocery supply company that provides supplies from vendors and stores to their customers, whereas FreshDirect is a food delivery business that delivers fresh food and meats to its customers that are taken directly from farms.
