Instacart, the leading online grocery marketplace in the United States, has introduced two innovative features aimed at improving inventory accuracy and customer satisfaction: Store View and Second Store Check. These advancements leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide real-time insights into product availability, ensuring that customers receive the items they order.

Store View: Real-Time Inventory Tracking

Store View is a groundbreaking feature that enables Instacart shoppers to capture videos of store shelves using the Instacart Shopper app. These videos are then analyzed by Instacart’s AI and computer vision technology to assess product availability. This process allows Instacart to inform customers about the likelihood of an item’s availability, reducing the chances of out-of-stock situations. The feature is set to launch with select retailers in the coming weeks and will expand to more retailers across the U.S. and Canada throughout 2025.

Second Store Check: Ensuring Product Availability

Second Store Check addresses instances when a desired item is unavailable at the initially selected store. In such cases, Instacart will automatically prompt a second shopper to check if the item is available at a nearby store. This feature aims to fulfill customer orders more reliably by sourcing products from alternative locations when necessary.

Caper Carts: AI-Powered Smart Shopping Carts

In addition to Store View and Second Store Check, Instacart has developed Caper Carts—AI-powered smart shopping carts designed to enhance the in-store shopping experience. These carts utilize advanced sensor fusion and edge AI for item recognition and location-based recommendations. They also produce heat maps to monitor shopping patterns within stores and individual aisles. Future iterations of Caper Carts will feature outward-facing cameras to provide updated inventory insights, further improving inventory accuracy.

Personalized Shopping Experience with AI Tools

Instacart continues to innovate by introducing AI-powered tools that deliver personalized grocery shopping recommendations based on customers’ habits, health goals, and dietary preferences. These tools include:

• Smart Shop: Uses generative AI and machine learning to analyze customer habits and preferences, surfacing the most relevant products.
• Health Tags: Provides detailed nutritional information, helping consumers view and filter items based on their health goals.
• Inspiration Pages: Curated destinations within the Instacart app offering health recommendations and shoppable recipes, such as those developed in collaboration with the American Diabetes Association.

Instacart’s Commitment to Enhancing the Grocery Shopping Experience

Instacart’s Chief Product Officer, Daniel Danker, emphasized the company’s dedication to improving the online grocery shopping experience: “With Store View, Second Store Check, and Caper Carts, we’re making online grocery more reliable, helping more customers get exactly what they want, and laying a foundation to help retailers and brands get better real-time insights through our technology in the future.”

These innovations reflect Instacart’s ongoing efforts to adapt to consumer expectations of convenience, selection, price, and speed. By integrating advanced technologies and AI-driven solutions, Instacart aims to provide a more seamless and personalized shopping experience for its customers across the United States.

What is Instacart’s Store View feature?

Store View is an innovative feature that allows Instacart shoppers to capture videos of store shelves using the Instacart Shopper app.These videos are analyzed by Instacart’s AI and computer vision technology to assess product availability, helping to inform customers about the likelihood of an item’s availability and reducing out-of-stock situations.The feature is set to launch with select retailers in the coming weeks and will expand to more retailers across the U.S. and Canada throughout 2025. ([instacart.com](https://www.instacart.com/company/updates/bringing-inspirational-ai-powered-search-to-the-instacart-app-with-ask-instacart/?utm_source=openai))

How does the Second Store Check feature work?

Second Store check addresses instances when a desired item is unavailable at the initially selected store.In such cases, Instacart will automatically prompt a second shopper to check if the item is available at a nearby store, aiming to fulfill customer orders more reliably by sourcing products from option locations when necessary.([instacart.com](https://www.instacart.com/company/updates/bringing-inspirational-ai-powered-search-to-the-instacart-app-with-ask-instacart/?utm_source=openai))

What are Caper Carts?

Caper Carts are AI-powered smart shopping carts designed to enhance the in-store shopping experience. These carts utilize advanced sensor fusion and edge AI for item recognition and location-based recommendations.They also produce heat maps to monitor shopping patterns within stores and individual aisles.Future iterations of Caper Carts will feature outward-facing cameras to provide updated inventory insights, further improving inventory accuracy. ([instacart.com](https://www.instacart.com/company/retailer-platform/connected-stores/caper-carts?utm_source=openai))

How does Smart Shop personalize my shopping experience?

Smart Shop is an AI-powered personalization foundation that leverages advanced machine learning to understand your shopping habits and identify patterns in your preferences. It combines this understanding with generative AI to connect related products, enhancing discovery and personalization for a more tailored and intuitive shopping experience. Whether you’re navigating dietary preferences or exploring healthier options, Smart Shop takes the guesswork out of grocery shopping by presenting items that match your unique lifestyle and goals. ([instacart.com](https://www.instacart.com/company/updates/introducing-smart-shop-personalization/?utm_source=openai))

What are Health Tags and how do they assist in my shopping?

Health Tags are AI-generated labels that categorize products based on their dietary characteristics, such as high protein, low carb, preservative-free, low sugar, and organic. With over 1.3 billion data points tagged, these Health Tags are available across approximately half a million food and beverage products, helping you filter for the products you want to shop. ([instacart.com](https://www.instacart.com/company/updates/introducing-smart-shop-personalization/?utm_source=openai))