Consolidation in the U.S. online grocery market: DoorDash acquires Instacart

The American meal delivery service DoorDash is set to acquire its industry peer Instacart, which specializes in grocery delivery. Both companies see the deal as offering significant benefits for both retailers and shoppers.

Easier and more affordable

DoorDash is paying $17 billion (€15.3 billion) for Instacart in a deal expected to close by the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. According to both companies, the merger offers significant benefits. The merger will accelerate innovation in the supermarket sector and make online grocery shopping easier and more affordable for millions of households, they say.

DoorDash, which started as a meal delivery service, has gradually expanded its services to include the delivery of food and non-food groceries. Instacart, which began as a personal shopping service, has developed additional businesses in retail media and in-store technology. The company recently announced that it is discontinuing its smart shopping carts, resulting in the cancellation of European pilot projects at Morrisons and Carrefour Belgium.

“New opportunities”

After the merger, consumers will pay only one subscription fee instead of two for both services. Shoppers using Instacart will gain access to 50,000 additional stores, on top of the nearly 100,000 stores already on the Instacart platform. Supermarkets can expand their capacity for online orders through DoorDash’s services, resulting in faster and more accurate deliveries at lower costs.

“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online,” says Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash. “Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network and technology that local stores rely on every day.”

“When our purpose-built grocery technology and trusted retailer and brand relationships are combined with DoorDash’s global consumer reach and logistics capabilities, we can create new opportunities for our retail and brand partners, offer an even better experience for customers and shoppers, and deliver compelling value for our shareholders,” said Chris Rogers, CEO of Instacart.