Plan your first retailer promotion

This feature is available to retailers only.

Beta refers to pre-release features or products that are under active development and available for users to try out.

Use this tutorial to build a mental model of retailer promotions in Ads Manager before you create your first live promotion. You will move from concepts → placement → setup decisions → reporting, in order.

Time: About 15 minutes to read
Audience: Retailer advertisers using Instacart Ads Manager

What you’ll learn

By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to:

• Tell retailer (basket-level) and CPG-funded (UPC-level) promotions apart, and explain where each promotion appears for shoppers.
• Describe how retailer promotions stack with other offers.
• Explain the two layers in Ads Manager (promotions vs promotion groups) and the order of decisions when you configure a retailer promotion.
• Name common audience options and what you usually configure for each.
• Know which metrics to expect after launch and where to go next in the help center for hands-on steps.

Before you begin

• You need access to Ads Manager as a retailer advertiser.

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Part 1 — Learn the two promotion types

Instacart runs two promotion families. Both can appear while customers shop for groceries online, but they work at different levels.

Retailer promotions (basket-level)

Ask yourself: Am I trying to win the storefront choice?

• Retailer promotions are basket-level: they highlight your banner and encourage customers to shop your store.
• Shoppers see them when they are picking a retailer — for example the Marketplace homepage, cross-retailer search, and similar places that show a list of storefronts.

Spot a retailer promotion

• If the message is “shop here and save on your basket,” you are in retailer-promotion territory.

CPG-funded promotions (UPC-level)

Ask yourself: Am I trying to move specific products in the basket?

• CPG-funded promotions are UPC-level: they encourage sampling or larger baskets around specific products.
• Shoppers see them where the product shows up — search, aisles and departments, and product detail pages.

Spot a CPG-funded promotion

• If the offer is tied to particular items on the shelf, that is UPC-level, not your basket-level retailer promotion.

How stacking works

Stacking rules

• CPG-funded UPC-level promotions and Ibotta coupons do not stack with temporary price reductions (TPRs).
• Retailer promotions are basket-level, so they can stack with other mechanics in the basket. A customer might buy items with a CPG promotion while their order still qualifies for your banner-level retailer promotion.

Part 2 — Picture where your retailer promotion runs

Once you know you are using a retailer promotion, remember: it surfaces whenever Instacart shows a list of retail storefronts.

Typical touchpoints:

• App homepage when they start shopping.
• Browsing retailers by category.
• Cross-retailer search.

Store list vs product list

• If the UI is comparing stores, your retailer promotion can appear there. If the UI is comparing products, think UPC-level instead.

Part 3 — Understand the Ads Manager structure

Before you touch settings, internalize how campaigns are organized.

The two layers

Layer	Role
Promotion group	Organizes campaigns: name, optional billing per group. Use one group per promotion or separate groups when you want different types of promotions isolated.
Promotion	Defines the offer: type, minimum spend, savings, budget, dates, and audience.

Order of operations

Always create at least one promotion group first, then add one or more promotions inside that structure.

Part 4 — Walk through each setup decision

When you create a retailer promotion, work through decisions in this order (they mirror the product flow).

1. Choose the banner

Which storefront (banner) should run this promotion?

2. Choose the offer shape

Retailer promotions use the same building blocks:

• Shoppers must meet a minimum spend.
• Then they get either a flat dollar off the basket or a percentage off the basket.

You will see this framed as money-off or percent-off basket offers in the UI; the underlying pattern is minimum + savings type + amount.

3. Set budget and schedule

• Assign a budget that covers the cost of the offer.
• Set a start date and, optionally, an end date. If you leave off an end date, the promotion typically runs until the budget is exhausted.

4. Define the audience

Decide which shoppers should see the promotion. Common options include:

Audience option	Plain-language intent
New to Instacart	Shoppers early in their Instacart journey (e.g. first few carts).
New to category	Shoppers who have not bought from selected categories in a 30–180 day window you configure.
Interacts with category but doesn’t buy	Interest signals (views, cart adds, etc.) in selected categories, but no purchase from your banner in the lookback window.
Buys X category, not from me	Buys from selected categories (e.g. dairy) but not from your banner in the lookback window.
Loyal buyers	Recent purchases from your banner in the lookback window.
Lapsed buyer	Bought from your banner in the window, but not in a more recent sub-period you define.
New to retailer	No orders from your banner yet.

Most options need lookback days and, where relevant, category selections (for example, “dairy” for Buys X category, not from me).

Part 5 — Try a sample scenario

Use this fictional brief to see how the pieces fit together (numbers are illustrative).

Goal: Pull new category buyers into a specific banner with a simple spend threshold.

1. Banner: e.g. Discount Baskets.
2. Offer: Flat dollar off when the shopper hits a minimum — e.g. spend $20, get $2 off.
3. Schedule: Start January 16 (add an end date or rely on budget exhaustion, depending on your plan).
4. Audience: New to category with a 30-day lookback on categories such as juice, beverages, and smoothies (choose whatever matches your strategy).

Make it yours

Swap the banner, amounts, dates, and categories to match your business rules — the sequence banner → offer → budget/dates → audience stays the same.

Part 6 — Read performance after launch

Once the promotion is live, Instacart tracks outcomes such as:

• Spend
• Promotion sales
• Redemptions used
• Estimated redemptions allowed

In reporting you can:

• Use metric drop-downs to change what is charted (for example spend vs sales on delivered orders where the promotion applied).
• Open promotion groups for a list view, then drill into a group for detail.

Recap

• Retailer = basket / banner; CPG-funded = product / UPC. Placement follows that split.
• Groups organize; promotions define the offer, budget, timing, and audience.
• Configure in order: banner → offer → budget & dates → audience.
• After launch, use reporting and exports to monitor spend, sales, and redemptions.

Continue with the Ads Manager docs

When you are ready to execute in Ads Manager:

1. Introduction to Retailer Promotions — Product basics and promotion types in depth.
2. Create a promotion group — Step-by-step creation flow.
3. Manage promotion groups — Pause, edit, and end promotions.