Blog #9 Diffusion of Innovation Theory

I looked at the innovation of Instacart through the lens of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Instacart is a service that people can use to hire a shopper to pick up and deliver their groceries to their door. Instacart was founded in 2012, but It really gained its popularity within the last three years. It became especially popular when the Corona Virus pandemic hit. People were too afraid to leave their homes and would rather hire a personal shopper to deliver their groceries.





The Pioneer of Instacart was the inventor Apoorva Mehta, he was able to launch the service in 2015. The pioneers and people who really believed in the service were Mehtas two hundred employees. America was really the early adopters of this service as many states were starting to see a growth in Instacart. Instacart changed their payment contracts with the drivers which made more people want to be employed by Instacart and become personal shoppers.

Instacart started its uptake when it transcended into other countries including Canada. It reached the tipping point when the late majorities (large grocery store chains) started to make contracts with Instacart. Food chains like Kroger, Publix, and Costco all joined in on the Instacart service. The market became completely saturated when the Pandemic hit and Instcart hired hundreds of thousands of employees to assist families in the pandemic.





Although the majority of the population knows what Instacart is there are still people who do not see a need in the grocery delivery system. Some people do not have the extra money to tip the drivers and pay off the extra fees. Others simply do not want someone shopping for them and they prefer to go out and shop for themselves. Insta Cart has definitely made shopping more convenient for the consumer, but some people still do not see the need to have someone else deliver their food items.


Background Information on Instacart


Background Information on Instacart