H-E-B partners with Instacart in Houston, Austin
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — H-E-B is the latest retailer to reach an agreement with grocery delivery service provider Instacart to offer home delivery in the Austin and Houston markets.
“Don't have time to come to H-E-B? No problem. We'll bring H-E-B to you with Instacart,” said Scott McClelland, president of H-E-B’s Houston Division. “Instacart’s ability to deliver on-demand clearly matches our focus of making our customers’ lives better. We are excited to offer a larger assortment of H-E-B items to customers in Austin and Houston.”
H-E-B operates 360 stores throughout Texas and Mexico.
Instacart was already serving customer in the Houston and Austin markets so the addition of H-E-B essentially expands the roster of retailers shoppers are able to choose from in those markets. Instacart got its start in San Francisco in 2012 and since then, thanks to considerable venture capital funding, has expanded its service to markets such as Seattle, Portland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Miami, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
“H-E-B epitomizes the kind of customer focused retailer that Instacart loves to partner with, so that we can give our Texas customers access to a Texas favorite grocer,” said Nilam Ganenthiran, Vice President of Business Development & Strategy for Instacart. “We’re looking forward to continuing our work with H-E-B.”
Instacart contends is has fundamentally changed the traditional grocery delivery space by eliminating the need for retailers to invest in infrastructure such as inventory, warehouses and trucks. The service connects customers with personal shoppers who shop for and deliver grocery orders in as little as one hour.
Users can opt to pay a per delivery fee or pay an annual $99 membership fee that allows for “free” delivery on orders of more than $35 or more. Prices on some products are marked up from those that are available in store, a practice that varies from retailer to retail.