Instacart is enhancing consumer experience, but could it eventually affect your grocery prices? The popular grocery technology company recently announced that its Carrot Tag system will be used in more grocery stores, including Aldi, which has notoriously low prices. Carrot tags will connect to stores' existing electronic shelf labels (ESL) to help make personal shopping easier, offer product information, and potentially allow for real-time price changes. Electronic shelf labels have replaced traditional paper price tags in plenty of grocery stores, as they allow for quicker and easier pricing changes.
According to Instacart's news release, its carrot tags are designed to "provide a reliable online ordering experience to their customers by helping e-commerce shoppers locate ordered items, which in turn improves order accuracy." The system includes a "pick to light" capability, which means the ESL lights up after an Instacart shopper selects an item on the Instacart app, making it easier to locate the item requested. So, how does this affect your grocery bill? Aldi hasn't directly commented on how the Carrot Tag system may be used to impact the prices of food items, as it is currently only utilizing the "pick to light" feature.
However, the official page for Carrot Tags boasts the feature of "price optimization with Eversight," which refers to the technology's ability to instantly change to reflect the most accurate pricing. With this in mind, it's possible that Aldi could uti.