Special | 3m 9s | Video has closed captioning.
Too busy, tired, and/or lazy to shop for groceries? There’s an app for that! Steve tries out Instacart, a new service that enlists the help of local “personal shoppers" to buy and deliver groceries to your door in under an hour. Will Instacart become the Uber for groceries?
Aired: 02/04/15
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[music playing] Too busy to shop?
Steve Goldbloom may have found the answer for you.
Startups continue to cater to a culture of convenience.
Ooh, this is organic.
This next company considers itself the Uber of grocery shopping.
It's called Instacart.
And if you're watching this and are too busy or too lazy to go to your local store, you should be paying attention.
[music playing] APOORVA MEHTA: Instacart is an app and website where customers can order groceries from their local favorite stores and get them delivered to their door within one hour.
It was quite difficult, not having food at home.
And it was painful.
So I built Instacart, started using it, and I loved it.
And I shared it with my friends.
They loved it as well.
OK. Now, I have to ask-- why didn't you just go out and get the groceries?
That required a lot of effort.
We have about 1,700 shoppers at this point.
You call them shoppers?
Yes.
I mean, how much money are you making?
A lot.
How much?
Just between us.
And the camera?
Yeah.
Is there any way we could find a shopper that I could just link up with in the neighborhood?
APOORVA MEHTA: Yep.
Hey.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Hey.
How you doing?
I'm Dave.
Dave, Steve.
Yeah, nice to meet you, man.
Noah.
Noah, hey.
You mind if we just shadow you?
We're not even here.
Yeah.
No avocados.
Just the bananas in the produce.
What if we surprise them?
Maybe you'll get a better review.
Mm-- You ever just throw in stuff?
DAVE: Two of those.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Whoa, sorry.
DAVE: Is is your first time shopping?
No.
I love shopping.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're an Insta shopper?
Yes, I am.
Look at you.
Where's the t-shirt?
Uh-- in the wash. Why aren't you wearing it?
Because I wear it every day.
I started doing this kind of part time.
Amazing.
And then I got really good at it.
And now I do it, like, 30, 40 hours a week.
So why not?
Jasmine seems nice.
DAVE: Yeah, she's super outgoing.
I never met her before.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Really?
DAVE: But now I'm going to look for her on the outsides.
Hello.
If you want to make sure that you ever have the right item, you can just go ahead and scan the barcode directly through the app.
It's just going to scan it right there.
And voila, you're going to know that that's the right item.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: All right, let's check out.
So go ahead and check out.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, which one is you?
So I'm that BMW M3.
Hello.
DAVE: Yeah, I went to UCSB, graduated with a degree in biopsych, and then moved back to San Francisco.
How does that phone call go to mom and dad.
Say, hey, I got my biopsych degree.
Now I'm going to be delivering food.
I will say, you're an incredibly fast driver.
Oh, I think I'm going to throw up.
[laughter] This is exciting.
You nervous?
Kind of.
You ever meet anybody you like off here?
All the time.
Be honest.
We got the coffees.
I wanted to call you.
But they said not to.
Why Instacart for you?
Just because it's convenient?
Why Instacart?
One, it's convenient.
Two, it's quick.
And three, let's see-- What do you think, roughly, you made there?
Off a six-item order with a tip, probably, like, $15.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: $15.
How many of those you going to do today, one day, would you do?
DAVE: If I worked my whole eight-hour shift, you're talking, like, $200 probably, for the day.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: $200?
DAVE: $200, $250.
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: I don't what we're doing, working in journalism.
All right, do you mind just giving me a lift home?
DAVE: Where do you live?
STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Just down in Palo Alto.
