Instacart Ads is the leading retail media network in online grocery. For CPG, food, beverage, and household brands, it is often the third major retail media channel after Amazon and Walmart, and sometimes the first one that matters for categories where shoppers buy groceries online.
What Instacart Ads Does
Instacart Ads sells sponsored product placements in Instacart search and browse, along with display, shoppable video, and coupon-style promotions, targeted using Instacart's shopping data across many grocery retailers. Instacart also licenses its ad technology to retailers through Carrot Ads, which powers retail media networks on grocers' own sites and in stores, including on Caper smart carts. Instacart says Carrot Ads draws on demand from more than 9,000 CPG brands.
Why It Needs a Real Owner
Grocery retail media behaves differently from Amazon. Baskets are larger and more routine, promotions matter more, and the same campaign can run across many different retailers. The owner should manage Instacart as its own channel with its own goals, coordinate promotions with trade and shopper marketing plans, and understand how Instacart placements relate to the retailer networks that Carrot Ads powers.
Who Should Own It
At CPG and grocery brands, Instacart Ads usually belongs with a Retail Media Manager or a Shopper Marketing Manager with digital experience. Larger brands sometimes fold it into a multi-retailer retail media role, alongside Walmart and Target. Because promotions and pricing drive so much grocery performance, the owner should work closely with whoever manages trade spend.
What to Screen For
- Grocery or CPG retail media experience, since basket behavior and promotions differ from general marketplaces.
- Promotion and coupon strategy, and how it interacts with trade spend.
- Multi-retailer thinking, including Instacart and the grocer networks powered by Carrot Ads.
- New-to-brand and repeat-purchase metrics, not just ROAS.
- Collaboration with sales and shopper marketing teams on retailer plans.
A strong answer uses new-to-brand data and compares repeat behavior over time. A weak answer points to the sales lift during the promotion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Instacart Ads only relevant for grocery brands?
It matters most for CPG, food, beverage, health, and household brands, since those are the categories people buy on Instacart. Brands outside those categories usually see more value on Amazon, Walmart, or Target first.
What is the difference between Instacart Ads and Carrot Ads?
Instacart Ads is how brands buy advertising on Instacart. Carrot Ads is Instacart's technology for retailers, used by grocers to run retail media networks on their own sites and in their stores. A brand may reach both through Instacart's demand tools.
More Retail Media Tools
For the full set, browse the retail media and marketplace tools guide. For pay ranges for these roles, see the 2026 eCommerce Salary Guide.