Instacart Chooses Software Over Hardware

This move shows Instacart is choosing software that every store can roll out over hardware that only a few stores will buy. Smart carts put a screen, cameras, sensors, and payment flow into each cart, which makes them expensive to build, service, and upgrade. Instacart is now concentrating on lighter products like Storefront, Carrot Tags, Scan and Pay, and In Store Mode that plug into existing store systems and can spread faster across its retailer base.1 2 3 4

• The core issue was adoption, not product quality. Instacart said retailer adoption did not scale fast enough to support continued investment, and that grocers were prioritizing store upgrades that work across more aisles and more locations with less operational change.1 2 3
• Caper had been one of Instacart’s most visible in store bets since acquiring Caper AI in 2021, and as recently as early 2025 the company was still presenting Caper Carts as a growth initiative alongside Storefront. The reversal shows how quickly enterprise grocery buyers can shift toward lower friction software purchases.4 5
• The economics also look very different from Instacart’s main business. Delivery marketplace revenue and ad revenue scale with order volume, while smart carts require upfront hardware deployment store by store. That makes carts feel more like a capex heavy retail equipment business than Instacart’s usual software and transaction model.6 7

Going forward, Instacart’s in store strategy is likely to look more like a software layer for grocers than a hardware vendor. That fits the broader DoorDash combination logic as well, because software products, memberships, ads, and fulfillment can be shared and expanded much more easily than maintaining a fleet of specialized carts.2 6 8