Long Island grocer Foodcellar Market is the first retailer to deploy Instacart’s Scan & Pay technology fully in stores.

Customers can scan items with their phone as they shop – from middle aisle products such as cereal or canned goods, to loose items such as weighted produce – and pay for them using their mobile phone. Scan & Pay seamlessly connects customers’ online and in-store experiences, linking items bought in-store to customers’ online Instacart account, making it easier to shop their preferred items from Foodcellar.

“At Foodcellar Market, we know that our customers’ time is precious, and we’re dedicated to ensuring that every moment they spend with us is enjoyable and efficient,” said Metin Mangut, co-founder at Foodcellar Market. “Our customers have shared their surprise at how easy it is to use Scan & Pay – there’s no need to download an app or learn complicated technology. We’ve been really pleased with the early adoption and our store associates love how Scan & Pay reduces stress for them too.”

Amid inflation, it’s more important for customers to stay on budget, and Scan & Pay helps Foodcellar Market’s customers track their spending as they scan items. No more mental calculations or being surprised at the register.

To get started, Foodcellar Market customers scan the QR code on the sign located at the front of the store, which opens Scan & Pay in their mobile browser so they can add items to their basket as they shop. When they’re done, customers can checkout from anywhere in the store directly from their phone, and show a QR code as they leave to confirm their payment. In the initial weeks since launch, Scan & Pay has been mostly used during peak hours for smaller basket sizes typically less than ten items.

“Grocers like Foodcellar Market are key to the local communities they serve, and our technology helps them provide a more convenient and delightful experience for their customers,” said David McIntosh, vice president at California-based Instacart. “Scan & Pay is helping customers to stay on budget while shopping in-store. Whether it’s one last-minute ingredient or a basket full of items, we’re making it even easier for customers to get what they need, when they need it.”

Instacart’s continuing development of Scan & Pay’s loss prevention capabilities is based on over a decade of experience working across the grocery industry, using Instacart’s understanding of the signals and patterns that indicate potential fraud. For retailers such as Foodcellar, they will be able to monitor Scan & Pay transactions in real time via dashboards and stay on top of any pattern shifts.

Foodcellar Market has long partnered with Instacart, serving as an innovation and testing hub for Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered shopping carts, since 2018 and a partner for its ecommerce business since 2016.

Scan & Pay is part of Connected Stores, a bundle of Instacart technologies that help grocers bridge the best of online ordering and in-store shopping.