Saying demand for home delivery of groceries with a growing number of partners providing products, Instacart is expanding its shopping service to the Sanford area And the company expects to add “over 100” contractors as “shoppers” who pick up and deliver items to customers, earning as much as $25 an hour.

Instacart

While shopping delivery services from Instacart and other companies such as Amazon have been widely available in the Triangle, Instacart is reaching well outside the metropolitan area with the expanded service that was announced Tuesday.
Its food delivery partner in Sanford is Food Lion. And the company says delivers can often be made in “as little as an hour.”
A spokesperson for Instacart would not disclose how many customers it has but says demand drove the devision to expand.
“Customer numbers are proprietary and cannot be shared publicly, but we are thrilled to be expanding our service to more areas in North Carolina, like Sanford, based on the demand we are already seeing in the area,” says Daycl Amendariz, director of communications for Instacart.
Here’s a Q&A with Amendariz about how the service works:
  • Why expand to Sanford?
We determine where to expand based on several factors, one of the most important of which is demand. In part, we gauge this by the number of potential customers that come to Instacart.com and enter their zipcode. We’ve seen incredible demand in the Sanford area. 
  • What Triangle areas are already served, and how many “shoppers” do you employ in this area?
We already offer delivery in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and there are hundreds of Shoppers already earning income with Instacart in the area. 
  • How do you differentiate your service from competitors such as Amazon and Google?
The key factors that set Instacart apart from competitors are the breadth of store partners we offer customers, our ability to provide same-day delivery in as little as an hour, and the fact that customers do not need a membership to take advantage of same-day delivery from Instacart. We know that customers want to get the items they have come to expect, from the stores they know and trust in their own communities. Instacart makes that possible while giving customers back something truly valuable: time. 
  • Do you work with other stores than Food Lion? if so, which ones?
Instacart partners with over 170 retail partners across North America including Publix, Costco, Lowes Foods, Total Wine & More, CVS, and Petco. 
  • Are “shoopers” full-time or part-time jobs? How much are they paid?
Instacart Shoppers are independent contractors, they set their own schedules and can work as much or as little as they want. Shoppers receive per order and per item commissions and receive their earnings weekly. Shoppers on the Instacart app earn $14 per hour on average, but many earn up to $20-25 per hour. 
  • Who pays for the goods at the store? Do people order and pay through you and the “shopper” goes to the story with a checklist and voucher of some kind?
Customers pay for the items in their virtual cart in the checkout process on Instacart.com or on our smartphone app.
Their order is then matched with an Instacart shopper in their area who hand-picks their items in the store and pays for them — like any other customer checking out at the grocery store – with a preloaded debit card provided to the Shopper by Instacart.