7-Eleven Signs On with Instacart for Same-Day Delivery
7-Eleven is yet another retailer teaming with Instacart to provide same-day delivery of thousands of convenience, alcohol, grocery and over-the-counter medicine items.
The pilot launch, currently live in more than 750 stores in Dallas, Miami, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas, will expand nationally to more than 7,000 7-Eleven stores across the U.S. The service is available from 8:00am through 10:00pm, with expanded delivery windows planned.
Chris Tanco, 7-Eleven COO, said joining Instacart’s platform was a logical step for the convenience store chain. "7-Eleven got its start 93 years ago because of its forward-thinking innovation that forever changed the way people shop. Our success then, and today, is built on continued innovation that ensures we continue offering our customers exceptional products and services when and where they want them.”
The deal further underscores the c-store industry as a key verticals exploring delivery in order keep up with consumer demand, Gavin Bisdee, Zynstra group marketing director, told RIS News. Recent Zynstra research found that 31% of c-store organizations are looking to implement home delivery features moving forward.
“However, convenience stores teaming up with third-party delivery companies should consider how this partnership will affect their IT environment, especially if they were not initially prepared to offer this service prior to COVID-19,” Bisdee noted. “If not done properly, partnerships with third-party delivery companies can result in c-stores having to utilize multiple IT devices to fulfill the orders, all on disparate systems — ultimately leading to inefficiency and confusion for front and back of house.”
Less is more for c-stores in order to deliver operational efficiency, Bisdee advised, and operators should virtualize in-store IT ecosystems in order to run multiple applications from the same device.
“This will improve efficiency, security and overall operations while minimizing c-stores’ IT footprint,” he said.
7–Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 71,100 stores in 17 countries, including 11,800 in North America. Instacart has partnered with more than 400 national, regional and local retailers, with the delivery service available from more than 30,000 stores in more than 5,500 cities in North America.
