Instacart lights up Schnucks with flashing shelf labels
- August 5, 2024
- Steve Rogerson

US family-owned grocery retailer Schnuck Markets is rolling out Instacart’s pick-to-light electronic shop labels (ESLs) to its more than 100 stores, serving shoppers in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The Carrot Tags pick-to-light shelf labels start flashing if a shopper or store assistant has selected the item on an app, making the item easier to find.
The Carrot Tags software seamlessly integrates into a retailer’s electronic shelf labels (ESL) hardware to enable incremental functionality, including pick-to-light capabilities. Schnucks will be using the pick-to-light functionality across most of its stores allowing Instacart shoppers to activate items from their picking list within the Instacart Shopper app for easier and more accurate order fulfilment.
Schnucks first began using Carrot Tags’ pick-to-light functionality in 2023, and quickly saw success across its pilot stores.
“We’re incredibly excited by the telling results of our partnership,” said David McIntosh, vice president at Instacart. “Because Schnucks is using pick to light, we’re seeing an increase in found rates, which in turn provides higher order quality and customer satisfaction. Schnucks has long served as a leading-edge partner for Instacart, especially when it comes to adopting our connected stores technologies like Caper Carts and Eversight.”
Bob Hardester, chief information officer at Schnucks, added: “We’re always striving to give our customers the most reliable online experience, and Carrot Tags’ pick-to-light functionality has helped us ensure our customers receive exactly what they ordered. As we continue to digitise our stores, we believe that Carrot Tags is an integral part of our omnichannel approach, especially once they connect to customer-facing technology like Caper Carts. From electronic shelf label software to smart carts to an ecommerce platform, Instacart’s technologies help us meet our customers, no matter how they choose to shop.”
Instacart has integrated with Schnucks’ ESL hardware provider Aperion (www.hussmann.com/en/aperion) to enable the Carrot Tags’ pick-to-light functionality. Aperion is one of the many ESL providers that connect to Carrot Tags software.
In addition to pick to light, Carrot Tags (www.instacart.com/company/retailer-platform/connected-stores/carrot-tags) will soon connect to Caper Carts, helping shoppers locate items more easily on the shelf. Carrot Tags is part of Instacart’s connected stores suite of in-store technologies, designed to bridge the online and in-store shopping experience for retailers and customers. Schnucks and Instacart first began their partnership in 2017, and it now spans a full omnichannel suite of offerings including Caper Carts, Storefront, Carrot Ads and Eversight.
California-based Instacart (www.instacart.com) works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1500 national, regional and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.
Founded in St Louis in 1939, Schnuck Markets (schnucks.com) is a third and fourth generation, family-owned grocery retailer. It operates 114 stores, serving customers in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin and employs 12,000 people.
• Food and drug retailer Albertsons (www.albertsonscompanies.com) has launched Instacart pickup services and delivery across the USA at banners including Safeway, Albertsons, Shaw’s, Acma, Jewel-Osco, Randalls and Vons. Additionally, Haggen Food & Pharmacy is now available on the Instacart app for same-day delivery.

This programme expansion provides Instacart customers with more access to groceries and household essentials alongside the quality and fresh assortment they expect from Albertsons’ banner stores.