Instacart e-grocery service expands to an already crowded NYC market

Instacart, the e-grocery service that hires freelance delivery personnel to shop at supermarkets and deliver to customers, has expanded to a small section of New York City. Effective Wednesday, Instacart is offering delivery from Whole Foods Market in much of lower Manhattan below 34th Street, excluding the Financial District. The company said it expects to add service from additional stores in the coming weeks. It also said it expects to expand the service to additional areas of the city.

New York’s market for on-demand delivery startups feels like it’s just about to reach capacity. What little room was left has just been filled by Instacart‘s new speedy grocery service. The company, fighting the stereotypes of years past (thanks Webvan), has delicately expanded over the past few years. First it launched in the Bay Area. Then, Chicago. Now, it’s in New York, and plans to expand rapidly for the rest of the year, according to founder Apoorva Mehta. But first, let’s look at how this market ballooned recently in the big city. Over the past year, delivery services like WunWun and Postmates duked it out, serving up necessities in as little as 30 minutes. FreshDirect and Peapod continue to wage a similar war — they’re two of the cheapest ways to buy groceries in the big apple. Seamless and Grubhub merged into one giant takeout menu.