Instacart Gives Grocers and CPG Brands a Live View of Every Store

New in-store software solutions will give grocers and CPG brands a live view of every store, so shelves stay stocked and customers can find what they need

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Instacart (NASDAQ: CART), a leading grocery technology company, today announced new in-store software that will enable grocers and CPG brands to access a real-time digital view of grocery shelves. The new solutions will map the entire store down to individual products on shelves, allowing grocers and CPG brands to virtually explore aisles, understand what is happening on shelves, and take action in real time. By turning the physical store into a live, actionable map, Instacart will help the entire grocery ecosystem keep products in stock and make it easier for customers to find what they need.

Instacart's network of approximately 600,000 shoppers visits stores across North America more than 15 times per store per day on average, generating over 10 million unique data points daily. Instacart is leveraging the data Instacart shoppers collect from shelf scans to create a real-time view of what is happening on store shelves. Combined with insights from more than 1.6 billion lifetime orders and shelf imagery capturable by both Instacart shoppers and Caper Carts – powered by Arpalus computer vision technology – Instacart gives retailers and CPG brands unprecedented, real-time visibility into what is available, where there are spikes or drop-offs in demand affecting inventory, and how in-store merchandising impacts sales.

"Grocery stores are the most complex physical environments in retail. A single store carries tens of thousands of items and the floor changes by the minute as customers shop, brands restock, and associates move displays," said Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer at Instacart. "Traditional inventory systems weren't built for today's reality – they rely on estimates and periodic counts, leaving grocers and brands with an incomplete picture of what's actually happening on shelves. By turning the insights Instacart generates every day into real-time intelligence for the physical store, we'll give retailers and CPG brands a level of visibility that drives better business outcomes and experiences for every customer."

Building a real-time view of every store, aisle by aisle

What sets Instacart's in-store software solutions apart from other shelf-monitoring tools is the depth of grocery-specific data behind it. Most solutions solely track items received and sold; Instacart shows grocers and CPG brands exactly what is on the shelf, where customers are shopping, which displays are driving sales, and where gaps are costing revenue.

For store managers, that intelligence will come to life in a virtual view of the store through Inventory Intelligence, where they can walk any aisle, view shelf performance, and explore stocking, merchandising, and planogram changes before making them in-store. Instacart's in-store software solutions will offer:

• Real-time shelf visibility: See what is on the shelf, continuously updated as Instacart shoppers scan throughout the day – enabling in-store teams to replenish high-margin, high-velocity items faster, merchandisers to optimize shelf layouts and displays, and supply chain teams to improve demand forecasting and replenishment.
• Merchandising optimization: Identify high-velocity products that may need more shelf space and where a simple change, like adding another facing, could help recover lost sales.
• Demand forecasting: Anticipate which products are likely to run out before they do, helping teams prioritize restocking ahead of holidays and other periods of peak demand.

For CPG brands, Instacart is bringing new visibility into what happens with their products in stores with the Store Excellence Portal. Brands will receive a daily, store-level view of what is on the shelf, helping them identify where gaps are costing sales, where customers are switching to competitors, and which stores and SKUs need attention. Instacart's new solution helps brands understand:

• Lost sales estimation: See how much revenue is being lost down to the store and UPC – refreshed daily – giving teams an estimated dollar figure to act on.
• Substitution and competitive benchmarking: Track whether consumers who could not find your product switched to a different pack size or competitor, and see how your availability stacks up against the category - turning an empty shelf into an actionable sales signal.
• Seasonal and forward-looking monitoring: Stay ahead of peak periods by tracking depletion patterns in the weeks before demand spikes and comparing against years of historical availability data. Built-in forecasting will flag which stores and SKUs are likely to go out of stock before it happens.

These new in-store software solutions are rolling out with select grocers and CPG brands, with more launching in the coming months.

"Identifying out-of-stock issues has typically meant piecing together information from multiple systems and our store managers spending a lot of time on the floor," said Dylan Queen at Queen's Price Chopper. "Having visibility to on-shelf realities and inventory trends over time will help us better orchestrate replenishment across the store and respond to gaps quicker."

"One of the greatest challenges we see in retail is prioritizing where to send resources to create the greatest impact for brands," said Andy Keenan, Executive Vice President & GM, Branded Retail Services at Advantage Solutions. "We partner closely with Instacart, and one of our biggest unlocks has been accessing their Store Excellence Portal data. We can identify where products are missing, prioritize by sales opportunity, and direct resources to the shelves that need it most. That's helped us recover lost sales and improve on-shelf availability for the brands we serve."

These AI solutions are part of the Instacart Enterprise platform. Learn more at company.instacart.com/enterprise-platform.

About Instacart
Instacart is a leading grocery technology company that partners with more than 2,200 retail banners – representing nearly 100,000 stores – to transform how people shop for the groceries they need from the retailers they trust, while creating flexible earning opportunities for shoppers. Through the Instacart Marketplace, Instacart Enterprise platform, and Instacart Ads ecosystem, the company powers ecommerce, fulfillment, in-store technology, AI offerings, and advertising for partners. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company. Maplebear Inc. is the registered corporate name of Instacart.

SOURCE Maplebear Inc. dba Instacart