Replacements

Customers have the flexibility to choose replacements for low stock items or request a refund if a shopper cannot find the item. Replacement instructions are extremely useful for shoppers and improve customer satisfaction. Customers' replacement items are saved so that they don't have to choose the replacement the next time they buy these items.

Customers can set their replacement instructions at several points during their shopping journey:

On the product details page
In their shopping cart
At checkout
After checkout
On the order status page

Customers have the following options to set their replacement instructions:

Replace with specific item. Customers can select up to three backup replacement items from a list of recommended options. Customers can also search for a specific item. Customers must select at least one item to set a specific replacement.
Replace with best match. The shopper will select an item which will be sent to the customer for review. For items where a customer hasn't saved a replacement preference, this option is preselected on the replacements screen before checkout.
Refund this item. The customer will be refunded for this item if the shopper cannot find it.

The following image shows an example of a replacements dialog:

Shows a potentially out of stock item with up to three replacement options.

High-quality recommendations for replacement items increase the chance of your customers buying them. Replacements are generated by using the same machine learning algorithms that power Instacart Marketplace. For more information, see Recommendations.