Instacart Ends Grocer Exclusivity

Ending exclusivity turns Instacart from a gatekeeper into a supplier, which makes the combined company more useful to grocers that want Instacart’s software without giving up DoorDash, Uber Eats, or their own direct channels. That matters because grocery margins are thin, retailers hate dependency, and Instacart increasingly makes money not just from delivery orders but from powering store websites, fulfillment tools, and ads across a grocer’s whole digital operation.1 2 3 4 5

• Instacart already sells more than a consumer app. It works with more than 2,200 retail banners and nearly 100,000 stores, and DoorDash says it plans to keep Instacart’s brand, enterprise technology products, and app after closing. Dropping exclusivity fits that model, because software revenue grows when more grocers use the tools across more channels.1 2 3
• This also reflects how competition changed. By 2022, Instacart held about 29% of online grocery, while Amazon had 20%, Walmart 38%, and Uber Eats and DoorDash about 5% each. Uber and DoorDash used existing courier networks to add grocery fast, so locking a grocer to one platform became less durable than winning on better software and retailer economics.3 4
• Instacart has been proving that retailers can use its enterprise stack and still operate elsewhere. Its 2025 shareholder letter noted analysis of top enterprise retailers that had launched on other marketplaces for at least one year, which suggests multi homing was already part of the playbook. The formal end of exclusivity makes that retailer behavior a feature, not a leak.5 6

The next phase is a more open grocery infrastructure market where grocers mix and match marketplace demand, white label storefronts, fulfillment, loyalty, and ads. That favors the companies with the best retailer software and the biggest delivery networks, and pushes Instacart and DoorDash to win through better economics and product depth instead of contract lock in.1 2 3 5