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Last mile delivery user journey

Instacart Connect seamlessly powers same-day delivery on retailer-owned e-commerce sites. The last mile delivery end-to-end user journey shows an example of a customer using a retailer site to create an order for last mile delivery. A retailer employee shops the order and stages it for delivery by a shopper.

A last mile delivery implementation enables you to create a better customer experience and reduce customer disappointment by showing your customers available time slots based on estimated capacity. This implementation requires multiple endpoints.

tip

If you're integrating with multiple third-party fulfillment providers, consider a dispatch last mile delivery implementation instead. For more information, see Dispatch last mile delivery user journey.

The journey highlights the key transitions from the customer point of view:

  1. Start shopping
  2. Begin the checkout process
  3. Choose a delivery time slot
  4. Review and place the order
  5. Receive the delivery

You'll see the following tabs at each transition:

  • Journey tab. Describes what happens during this step for the customer and the retailer site.
  • API tab. Lists the endpoint methods or events that can be used at this point in the workflow.
  • Retailer options tab. Lists some workflow decisions a retailer makes before implementing a solution.

Start shopping

  1. The customer visits the retailer e-commerce site.
  2. The customer selects delivery.
  3. The customer enters their postal code and gets a list of store locations that offer last mile delivery.
  4. The customer selects a store location. The store location determines what inventory is available in the catalog.
  5. The customer fills their cart.

Begin the checkout process

  1. The customer logs in to their retailer customer account.
  2. The retailer site creates a Connect user account for this customer that can be used by Instacart.
  3. If the cart contains alcohol, the retailer site prompts for the customer's date of birth. The customer must be old enough to legally purchase alcohol in their region.

Choose a delivery time slot

  1. The customer sees a list of available time slots. If the cart contains alcohol, some time slots might not be available due to regional laws for the sale or delivery of alcohol.
  2. The customer selects a time slot. The time slots are the same as the time slots currently available on Instacart Marketplace.
  3. The retailer site sends a request to reserve the time slot. The time slot is reserved for 10 minutes, which is usually enough time for the customer to finish the checkout process.

Review and place the order

  1. The customer reviews and validates their order and delivery address.
  2. The retailer site prompts for other order fulfillment information, including:
    • Confirmation to leave the delivery unattended. Default is false.
    • (Optional) Special instructions.
  3. The retailer site notifies the customer that they are automatically subscribed to SMS communications. This enables status notifications to be sent to customers.
  4. The retailer site prompts for payment and preauthorizes the order total.
  5. The retailer site creates the order. It can take several seconds to receive order confirmation from Instacart.

Receive the delivery

  1. A retailer employee shops for the order and places the bags in a staging area. The retailer site sets the order status to staged.
  2. A shopper picks up the order and delivers it to the customer.
  3. If order contains alcohol, the customer presents identification that includes their date of birth. For more information, see Alcohol compliance.
  4. The retailer site receives the delivered callback.
  5. The retailer site processes the payment for the order total including tip.
  6. If the customer wants to adjust their tip, the customer has up to 2 hours to decrease their tip and up to 14 days to increase their tip.
  7. The customer provides feedback on the order.