Introduction to retailer promotions
Beta refers to pre-release features or products that are under active development and available for users to try out.
Retailer Promotions are basket-level discount incentives that retailer advertisers can create and manage directly in Instacart Ads Manager. By offering automatic discounts at checkout, Retailer Promotions encourage Instacart customers to shop with your store and grow basket size.
Retailer Promotions work by giving customers a financial reason to choose your store — when a shopper meets your minimum amount, the discount is automatically applied at checkout.
What you can do with Retailer Promotions
- Drive basket size by offering dollar-off or percent-off discounts when customers meet a minimum amount
- Control your spend with total budget caps that automatically stop your promotion when reached
- Track performance with real-time reporting on spend, promotion sales, and redemptions
- Self-serve setup — launch and manage promotions on your own schedule, without needing to contact a rep for each campaign
Promotion types
Retailer Promotions come in two types, both of which apply a discount automatically at checkout when the customer meets the minimum amount:
| Promotion type | Dollar off basket | Percent off basket |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Customer receives a fixed dollar amount off their order when they meet the minimum amount. | Customer receives a percentage off their order when they meet the minimum amount. |
| Example | Spend $50, get $10 off your order. | Spend $30, get 15% off your order. |
| Best for | Predictable discount costs per redemption. | Scaling the discount reward with basket size. |
| Discount calc | Fixed amount per redemption regardless of order size. | Percentage of order total (up to basket total). |
How Retailer Promotions appear to customers
Retailer Promotions surface across cross-retailer placements on Instacart — including the retailer grid, retailer forward list, category list, store directory, and cross-retailer search. The discount is applied automatically at checkout when the customer's order meets or exceeds the minimum amount. Customers do not need to enter a promo code.
Retailer Promotions apply to the entire basket from your store — they are not limited to specific products or categories. Any products the customer adds from your store count toward the minimum amount.
Who can use Retailer Promotions
Retailer Promotions are available to retailer advertisers who have been provisioned with access to Ads Manager. If you're not sure whether your account has Retailer Promotions enabled, contact your Instacart representative.
Next steps
- Ready to build your first promotion? See Creating a promotion group
- Want to understand what's tracked? See Measuring promotion group performance
- Learn how billing works: Billing and budgets for promotion groups