Instacart's Shoppable Ad Means Rethinking Your eRetail Ads

Instacart has moved shoppable ads out of the pilot stage with a splashy, first-of-its-kind, major CPG co-marketing campaign.

On Wednesday, the company announced that TV commercials for Michelob ULTRA will air during the NFL playoffs.  These ads will feature a QR code, enabling purchases powered by Instacart.

Users who scan the QR code are taken to a Michelob ULTRA page on Instacart that features the beer as well as other partnering products like PepsiCo snacks.

This launch signals Instacart's continued investment in brand partners.  

It also means the chance for CPG brands to shake up their retail advertising strategy.

We’ve all been on the couch watching TV and thinking, ‘that looks good’ or ‘that reminds me I need to pick up paper towels.’  But the moment passes, and we forget about it when we actually go shopping. 

For CPG brands, especially those in ‘need it now’ categories like food or home supplies, what Instacart is doing helps takes the friction out of your customer converting on your product.

Shoppable media has been a big topic, and 2023 will see massive rollouts everywhere. 

Instacart has been leading the pack of retailers who are integrating more shoppability on off-site media, and using QR codes on commercials is just the latest move.  .  this has been Instacart. Fun to now see this across all devices now. 

While the adoption of QR codes was low when introduced, shoppers are now more familiar, and the user behavior is there. It will be interesting to see how shoppable TV takes off or doesn’t.    

What does this mean for other retailer platforms?

Retailers have been expanding their offerings across all media types and rolling out shoppability in those units. 

Instacart is a leader in this space, and retailers must catch up. But it’s not as simple as that, as retailers will need to continue to profitably expand their options for same-day delivery or partner with the Instacarts, Ubers, and Postmates of the world. 

The shift to same day is on. But for retailers, the name of the game is long-term profitability and infrastructure and the ability to tap into partnerships with other platforms and delivery services.  Rolling out shoppable features like the Instacart ads has to come with a deliberate understanding of the profitability around this kind of feature.

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