A few notes on the grocery space related to Kroger and Instacart.

First, Instacart hired another Facebook executive as President of the company. At this point, I think the big question is with all this ads firepower, will there be enough oxygen in the room for actual grocery and supply chain improvements?

I think the best Instacart is making is that data is data and that they understand how to optimize an app better than anyone, and if its user models deeply understand the user, they will be able to figure out the rest.

Time will tell whether a mobile data company whose primary revenue is ads (Instacart), a traditional retailer (Walmart, Albertsons, Kroger), will win this in this space. A number of QuickCommerce upstarts threaten as well - goPuff foremost among them.

Second, Kroger has added Ghost Kitchens in its store to offer more prepared food, similar to the recent Walmart pilots with the same concept. Prepared food = convenience which is good in any setting. If people can avoid extra trips by shopping at Kroger, it would seem like this is a worthwhile test for the company.