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Instacart enters convenience store arena with 7-Eleven partnership

More than 750 stores launch same-day delivery as part of 7,000-store rollout

Russell Redman

September 3, 2020

5 Min Read
7-Eleven store exterior.jpg
Through Instacart’s service, 7-Eleven customers will be able to place online orders for grocery staples, alcoholic beverages, snacks, prepared foods, over-the-counter medicine, energy shots and drinks, among other offerings, and have them delivered in as soon as 30 minutes.7-Eleven

Instacart has jumped into the convenience store market via a new on-demand delivery partnership with retail giant 7-Eleven.

The companies said Thursday that Instacart’s same-day delivery service will roll out in phases to more than 7,000 7-Eleven U.S. stores over the coming weeks. So far, Instacart delivery has launched in more than 750 7-Eleven stores in the Dallas, Miami, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan markets.

Through Instacart’s service, 7-Eleven customers will be able to place online orders for such items as grocery staples (including milk, bread and eggs), alcoholic beverages (where permitted), snacks, prepared foods, over-the-counter medicine, energy shots and drinks, among other offerings, and have them delivered to their door in as soon as 30 minutes.

“Instacart has been on this journey for the last eight years of enabling brick-and-mortar retailers to come online, be that through the Instacart Marketplace or through Instacart Enterprise, where we're building websites 175 retailers,” Instacart President Nilam Ganenthiran told Supermarket News in an interview. “The 7-Eleven partnership is a natural extension of everything we’re doing, now on the convenience store side. We’re bringing 7-Eleven’s 7,000 locations nationally onto our platform so they can interact with customers in a more seamless way. We’re very excited to be able to bring on board the largest national convenience player.”

Related:7-Eleven buying 3,900 Speedway stores in $21 billion deal

Instacart app-7Eleven.png7-Eleven customers place Instacart delivery orders via the Instacart app or online at the retailer's Instacart page. (Image courtesy of Instacart)

To place orders for Instacart delivery, 7-Eleven customers go online to instacart.com/store/7-11 or access the free Instacart mobile app, enter their ZIP code, select the 7-Eleven storefront and begin adding items to their virtual shopping cart. Instacart personal shoppers then pick, pack and deliver the order within the customer’s designated time frame, which can be as soon as possible or scheduled days in advance.

The companies said 7-Eleven delivery via Instacart is available 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., depending on location, and expanded delivery windows will become available in the coming months. More 7-Eleven products also are slated to become available for Instacart delivery, including additional offerings from the retailer’s convenience aisles.

“7-Eleven got its start 93 years ago because of its forward-thinking innovation that forever changed the way people shop,” Chris Tanco, chief operating officer at 7-Eleven, said in a statement. “Our success then, and today, is built on continued innovation that ensures we continue offering our customers exceptional products and services when and where they want them. Adding 7-Eleven to Instacart’s platform was a logical step. We are able to offer even more customers the 7-Eleven conveniences they know and love.”

Related:Walmart teaming with Instacart on same-day delivery pilot

Overall, Irving, Texas-based 7‑Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 71,100 stores in 17 countries, including more than 9,800 stores in the United States, and its 7Rewards loyalty program has more than 35 million members. Instacart’s service will operate alongside 7-Eleven’s current delivery service, available in more than 1,300 cities through the 7NOW app. In early August, 7-Eleven announced a big expansion of its retail network with a $21 billion deal to acquire the Speedway convenience store chain from Marathon Petroleum Corp., which will add about 3,900 Speedway stores and fuel stations in 35 states.

7-Eleven store interior.jpg

More 7-Eleven products also are slated to become available for Instacart delivery, including additional offerings from the retailer’s convenience aisles.

“We think it’s a different customer use case than we are solving on the grocery side,” Ganenthiran explained about Instacart’s entry into the convenience store space. “If you think about it on the grocery side, it’s full-basket plan trips and lots of incremental sales. Our baskets are up 35% since COVID. With the 7-Eleven opportunity, we’re going to have a different customer use, folks who want convenience. They want to snack, want the batteries for their remote control or they’re planning for movie night and want the Slurpee, etc. We want to be there for customers across both occasions, whether they’re planning their weekly meals and core grocery shop or need their munchies delivered quickly.”

The addition of 7-Eleven to Instacart’s roster of retail partners continues the San Francisco-based online delivery giant’s expansion beyond its core grocery base. Besides convenience retailing, Instacart has made forays into off-price/closeout retail (Big Lots), office retail (Staples U.S. and Canada), vitamins and supplements retail (Vitamin Shoppe) and prescription delivery (Costco Wholesale). Instacart also has expanded within the grocery segment, including delivery of alcohol, deli and meal orders, and on-demand delivery and other services for independent grocers, the latter through partnerships with C&S Wholesale Grocers and the former Supervalu (now part of United Natural Foods Inc.).

Instacart, too, continues to expand its pickup service — adding 1,400 more stores since March 1 — and grow its Instacart Enterprise e-commerce services business, which provides retailers with white-label online storefronts and other capabilities.

“From the beginning, we’ve wanted to be the chief [e-commerce] ally for brick-and-mortar retailers. Grocery is a trillion-dollar industry in the U.S., and it’s where we’ve been laser-focused. What you see us doing now is reaching across the aisle, selectively, to bring on more and more places for our retail partners,” Ganenthiran said. “We think grocery is still the largest retail category and opportunity for us, and we’re very proud of the role we’ve had in helping grocery retailers come online. And we think the job has just begun. There’s so much more work we need to do to power more retailers’ own dot-coms and use Instacart Enterprise as a way to help more and more retailers uniquely connect with their customers.”

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About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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