Instacart debuts the Instacart Developer Platform

Instacart is unveiling Instacart Developer Platform, a new publicly available API program which uses Instacart's industry-leading online grocery platform to supercharge third-party digital experiences across food, health, wellness and many other spaces. IDP will enable third parties to integrate the functionality of Instacart inside their websites and apps, and over time, will unlock:

• Same-day fulfillment of over a billion unique products in as fast as 30 minutes from 85,000 stores across more than 1,500 national, regional and local retail banners;
• Access to Instacart's rich item catalog, which includes attributes like ingredient and nutrition information, size and more—the building blocks needed to create customizable meal plans, recipes, shopping lists and other full-service lifestyle experiences; and
• Real-time understanding of what's on store shelves from each customer's favorite local retailer.

Noting that there is an explosion of innovative developers and companies building compelling app and web-based experiences in food and other spaces – from meal planning and cooking inspiration to navigating dietary and health needs to interactive beauty apps, Instacart said, "While many of these new companies are able to leverage emerging tech like generative AI to create compelling products, most don't have a way to build functionality that gets people the food, household items and other essentials they need to turn the guidance and inspiration they're getting into action."

[Read more: Hy-Vee expands partnership with Instacart]

Instacart provided this example: a customer of a meal planning app may open the app and come up with a plan for what they want to cook, or patients using a healthcare app may browse digital nutrition plans specific to a dietary need or disease.  But before these users can make anything, they need to write down the ingredients, drive to the grocery store, pick them out and bring them home—creating an imperfect customer experience ripe for improvement. With integration via IDP, those same customers can now click a button to pick their favorite local retailer, add those ingredients to a digital cart and enjoy a robust delivery experience including things like real-time delivery updates and replacement alerts.

“With the launch of the Instacart Developer Platform, we're taking over a decade of technology we've built to power the Instacart marketplace and top retailer storefronts, and offering it to a broader range of businesses, turning discovery-centric apps into full service experiences that can also deliver tangible goods," said Daniel Danker, chief product officer and head of online grocery at Instacart. "This enables mainstream services as well as new products born out of emerging AI capabilities to offer truly complete experiences for their customers."

By joining IDP, over time developers will have access to a rich set of catalog, search, cart-building, fulfillment and self-service tools. With those tools, they'll be able to build connected experiences that span meal planning, personalized nutrition, cooking, content creation, health, entertainment, beauty, travel and more. IDP provides a way to allow customers to order from Instacart using inspiration from third-party apps—creating a better experience and opening up new monetization avenues like affiliate commissions, Instacart noted.

[Read more: Instacart, DispatchHealth to help in home providers tackle food insecurity]

For retailers and brands, IDP is a zero-cost way to attract new customers, drive incremental order volume, unlock new surfaces for targeted ad placements and connect with new customers at the moment they're looking to make purchases, the company added.

Finally, for Instacart, IDP is a way to help new customers discover the convenience of ordering groceries online, and allow the company's existing customers to connect Instacart cart-building to their favorite apps.

Instacart has partnered with more than a dozen launch partners, who will launch IDP integrations over the coming months, including:

New York Times Cooking makes everyday cooking simple with recipes created by, tested and perfected by experienced and trusted editors and recipe creators, and rated highly by a community of engaged home cooks. Beloved by its audience, more than 100 million people visited the site and app in 2023. This integration will allow New York Times Cooking users to shop recipe ingredients via Instacart, making it faster and easier to get a delicious dinner on the table.

[Read more: Instacart updates omnichannel, AI solutions for grocers]

"At New York Times Cooking, we are focused on providing home cooks with delicious and achievable recipes they can count on every day," said Alex Hardiman, chief product officer at The New York Times. "Our dynamic integration with Instacart lets our audience seamlessly shop and receive ingredients, making it even easier to cook any of our recipes that are beloved by millions."

WeightWatchers. Through a seamless integration with Instacart and the "What to Eat" feature in the WeightWatchers app, members can easily add ingredients needed for WeightWatchers recipes to their Instacart cart, and have them delivered right to their door.

"Our collaboration with Instacart builds on our commitment to holistic care by making healthy living more accessible for our members," said Debra Benovitz, chief insights officer of WeightWatchers. "We hear from members that they want convenient options and this partnership allows them to turn their aspirations with meals and recipes into immediate action, ensuring that nutritious choices are just a click away."

GE Appliances. Instacart ordering and same-day delivery will be available for the shoppable, seasonally inspired recipes on the LCD touchscreen of select GE Profile, CAFÉ and Monogram wall ovens and slide-in ranges. With the additional integration of Instacart into GE Appliances SmartHQ app, consumers' custom recipe creations from Flavorly AI can now extend beyond the ingredients they have available in their kitchens. Flavorly lets users generate custom recipes with photos and instructions based on the ingredients, type of cuisine and dietary preferences. Consumers will begin to see new features in the fall of 2024.

"By investing in new technologies and forging innovative collaborations, we are bringing untapped value to our consumers," said Shawn Stover, vice president of SmartHome and Energy Solutions at GE Appliances. "Our goal is to help expand cooking confidence, reduce food waste and create a seamless cooking journey for our consumers. Joining the Instacart Developer Platform unlocks exciting new possibilities, both on our products and inside of our SmartHQ consumer app."

IDP also will unlock new features for developers of all sizes. "We're also excited to work with additional recipe/meal planning and health & wellness apps like Biocoach, DinnerTime, Eatlove, eMeals, Foodsmart, Innit, Intent, Jow, Jupiter, Maple, North Fork, Relish and Smart Commerce," the company said.

The first version of the Instacart Development Platform is live today and accepting partner applications here. 

In the months ahead, Instacart will work with its partners to power even more experiences and help them integrate with the Instacart platform in new ways—including rich real-time product search, product availability and retailer location finder.