DoorDash and Instacart Open Up Store Shelf Data to Brands

Both companies are betting that product availability data directly impacts advertising effectiveness. If a product is out of stock, an ad campaign runs idle: the consumer sees the ad but cannot make a purchase. Inventory monitoring closes this gap and allows ad budgets to be redirected toward stores where the product is actually available.

For DoorDash, the launch of Brand Center is a step in developing its advertising business, which the delivery service is building against the backdrop of slowing growth in its core order commission. Advertising remains the highest-margin segment for e-commerce platforms, and detailed shelf data increases the value of the advertising offering.

Instacart, which works primarily with grocery retail, is extending its digital shelf technology to the operational processes of stores themselves. Managers get a tool for monitoring product placement and inventory without physically walking the sales floor.

Russian e-commerce and retail market participants are watching these solutions as a benchmark: the country's largest marketplaces are developing similar mechanisms linking advertising to actual product availability.