Instacart Launches Mobile Checkout for Shoppers

Instacart has unveiled Instacart Mobile Checkout, which will enable shoppers in the coming months to check out using mobile payments directly in the shopper app.

The option is being offered in partnership with card-issuing platform Marqeta. Powered by NFC (near field communications) technology, Instacart Mobile Checkout will be available anywhere credit cards are accepted via Google Pay or Apple Pay. 

“We know that for many shoppers, convenience is key,” noted Kevin Henrikson, VP of shopper engineering at San Francisco-based Instacart. “We’ve heard from shoppers that they would like an easier way to pay with their phone, instead of relying on a physical payment card that can get lost or buried in their wallet. Mobile Checkout helps us address this feedback and improve the overall shopper experience. For new shoppers, it will also significantly shorten the timeframe before they can begin shopping — with a mobile payment option, new shoppers can go from signing up to their first shop in as little as a few hours.”

Along with speed, convenience and an easy onboarding process, Instacart Mobile Checkout offers backup when needed, if a physical payment card is left at home, lost or nonoperational, and payment security using NFC technology to keep payment information confidential through tokenization.

Calling Instacart on Mobile Checkout “a great use of Marqeta’s modern card-issuing platform to provide a seamless user experience for Instacart’s shoppers,” Omri Dahan, chief revenue officer at Oakland, Calif.-based Marqeta, said, “Marqeta’s platform is the first in the market to instantly issue cards into a mobile wallet, allowing Instacart shoppers to get their cards immediately and begin fulfilling orders, all while benefiting from a more secure way to pay.”

Now available in select regions, Instacart Mobile Checkout will roll out to all shoppers in the near future.

To date, Instacart has teamed up with more than 350 national, regional and local retailers, among them Albertsons, Aldi, Costco, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, Walmart Canada, and Wegmans, to deliver from more than 25,000 stores in 5,500-plus cities in North America. The company’s delivery service is available to more than 85% of U.S. households and 70% of Canadian homes.