Dollar General Expands Same-Day Delivery Through Instacart

Dollar General is expanding its delivery options through a new partnership with Instacart, according to a Wednesday (Sept. 23) press release.

The partnership gives customers access to the discount retailer’s food, household goods, health and beauty products and other everyday essentials through Instacart’s app and website, the release said. It will begin as a pilot at about 7,000 Dollar General and pOpshelf stores across six states in the coming weeks. The plan is to then expand the service to about 20,000 stores across 48 states this fall.

Delivery will be available in as little as one hour, according to the release.

Dollar General, which will join more than 2,200 retail banners on the Instacart Marketplace, said in the release that the arrangement is intended to give customers another way to access its low-priced merchandise while saving time.

Instacart Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Hamburger said in the release that the partnership will extend access to Dollar General’s affordability proposition through same-day delivery.

The move comes as Dollar General has been drawing customers from across income groups while emphasizing value and convenience. During a first-quarter earnings call in June, CEO Todd Vasos said the retailer is seeing increased customer penetration among low-, middle- and high-income households, PYMNTS reported June 2. The largest increase in customer count during the company’s first quarter came from households earning more than $100,000 annually.

Dollar General reported first-quarter net sales growth of 3.4% year over year, while same-store sales increased 2%. Customer traffic rose 1.4%, and average transaction value increased 0.5%, the report said.

For Instacart, the Dollar General agreement extends a broader push to make its delivery infrastructure part of retailers’ everyday commerce strategies. Last month, The Kroger Co. began using Instacart to combine grocery and eligible prescription deliveries into a single order at Fred Meyer, Ralphs and Harris Teeter, PYMNTS reported Aug. 24. The offering follows Instacart’s earlier expansion of Kroger Express Delivery, which provides grocery delivery in as little as 30 minutes.