Business Insider Intelligence research analyst Daniel Keyes and eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Andrew Lipsman discuss the future of grocery and why Instacart is leading the charge. They then talk about lululemon's magical Q2, what Amazon's latest wearable can do that others can't, and how Peloton's new equipment fits into its overall strategy.

But Walmart and Instacart are the real forces to watch with their huge footprints of in-store sales data. Walmart can gather information on cross-category purchase behavior in its nearly 5,000 US retail locations, and Instacart can collect insights from its partnerships with more than 400 grocery chains across 30,000 stores in the US and Canada.

Over the course of the pandemic, retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, Kroger, Target, and FreshDirect have kept up with increased demand. Many opened up more delivery windows, offered express delivery, and expanded their online selection of grocery items.

Loblaw has invested in digital capabilities for click and collect and delivery via a partnership with Instacart since 2017. Empire Company Ltd. announced further expansions of its ecommerce capabilities for 2021. After launching an online grocery service called Voilà in the summer of 2020 in partnership with the UK’s Ocado, the company saw massive uptake.

As advertisers struggle to connect the identities of users across channels and match marketing touchpoints up with conversions, ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart will be able to make these connections directly within their own platforms.

But Walmart and Instacart are the real forces to watch with their huge footprints of in-store sales data—Walmart with cross-category purchase behavior in its nearly 5,000 US retail locations, and Instacart with its partnerships with more than 400 grocery chains across 30,000 stores in the US and Canada.

The ecommerce ad channel includes other players we don’t (yet) break out, and one getting significant buzz this year is Instacart—another major beneficiary of pandemic-related trends. Instacart is beta testing an ads application programming interface (API) allowing buying through other technology platforms.

eMarketer principal analysts Andrew Lipsman and Nicole Perrin discuss what consumers expect, and don't expect, from advertisements during the pandemic and provide some examples. They then talk about the Amazon and Instacart protest implications, the United Nation's call to creatives and how bad the retail store closures picture could look this year.

But despite the rise of players such as TaskRabbit (home services), Postmates (courier) and Instacart (grocery delivery), the sharing economy is still dominated by transportation- and home-sharing. In 2020, nearly 95% of participants in the US sharing economy will use some sort of shared transportation, with the majority being Uber and Lyft customers.

“Amazon and Instacart are the biggest beneficiaries of the rapid shift to online grocery buying for delivery,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “As the ultimate stock-up store, Costco was a key player during the panic-buying period and will likely benefit as it transitions more of its customers to online ordering.

In this year’s Key Digital Trends report, we identify what changes are coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2020 and why they matter to marketers.

I look at places like DoorDash and Instacart and know their sales are up dramatically. If I were to focus on alcohol specifically, the numbers for the total category are up around 200% to 250%, and we’re up about 350% and not seeing any signs of that slowing. So, at least from an alcohol-specific standpoint, we think we’re going to outstrip that 58% by a really long shot.

Grocery delivery service Instacart alone hired 300,000 workers during lockdowns in March and April. And along with delivery, many retailers honed their curbside and click-and-collect services. As a result of these changes, we expect click-and-collect sales in the US to increase 60.4% in 2020, a massive $22.04 billion rise over 2019.

Key Winners/Losers: Amazon and Instacart are the biggest beneficiaries of the rapid shift to online grocery buying for delivery. As the ultimate stock-up store, Costco was a key player during the panic-buying period and will likely benefit as it transitions more of its customers to online ordering.

Grocery delivery services like Instacart have also been taking advantage of the overflow, creating new features to prioritize essential items and schedule order-ahead options for nonessentials.

Right now it's just in New York, but it’s essentially a marketplace of curated grocery boxes, all at roughly 40% off the prices you typically pay for Instacart or FreshDirect. We're able to do that because we're using the MealPal model—having a select and predetermined set of food items—while still leveraging our restaurant supply chain. We built this in about a week and launched quickly.

On the delivery and logistics side, Instacart has partnered with more than 300 retailers to provide in-store product picking and delivery of orders. And a couple of last-mile delivery services, Parcel (acquired by Walmart in 2017) and Shipt (acquired by Target in 2017) have been vertically integrated into their parent companies’ online grocery operations.

Separate data covering the first week of March from meal-planning service eMeals shows week-over-week increases (as high as 67%) in the number of orders submitted to its grocery partners, including Amazon, Instacart, Kroger, Shipt and Walmart.

To tackle the challenge, Instacart built out a data set and predictive technology to orchestrate the millions of shopping trips taking place across its 20,000 retail partner locations.

This growth is being driven by an increase in grocery-related omnichannel offerings, like pickup points in-store, drive-thrus and kiosks, plus the rise of meal kits and third-party delivery services like Instacart and Shipt. By the end of 2018, 80% of the US population will have access to Instacart, according to CEO Apoorva Mehta. "There has been 135% year-over-year growth at Instacart.