5 Minutes with Instacart's Jasmine Taylor

With its deep trove of purchase data, Instacart has a direct line to consumers’ habits. And in the increasingly data-filled world of retail, that’s worth a lot.

From recent partnerships with Peacock, Albertsons, Uber and The New York Times, to dipping a toe into AI, Instacart is clearly filling up its shopping cart by thinking outside the aisle. With an eye toward expanding the company’s customer base, Instacart’s Head of Consumer Marketing Jasmine Taylor is mining for opportunities to merge the digital and physical worlds consumers now transverse while grocery shopping.

The Current’s Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Paterik sits down with Taylor to get her perspective on why retail data is a huge unlock for marketers, fixing fragmentation in media and why she thinks diversity is a direct line to innovation.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Our team talks a lot about taking big swings. And I'm really curious to know what the big swing is for your team right now. What's that big, ambitious, audacious goal or project that you're working on?

One that I would say is the big goal for us is a project around building the brand strategy for our Caper AI. Those are our AI-powered shopping carts and really, you know, Instacart is famous now for grocery delivery, and now with our grocery technology platform, we also can serve the in-store experience for consumers.

And so, from a consumer marketing perspective, it's really about thinking about the narrative end to end and sharing how the magic of the cart can really make the experience that much better.

Tell me more about an AI-powered shopping cart. How would I as a shopper experience that?

It’s exactly what it sounds like. In stores today, there's a shopping cart and you put your things in and you go through the experience. The smart cart really is a personalized AI-powered cart where everything you put in gives you more information about what you're shopping for. It enables more discovery, it helps you find value and coupons throughout the experience. Think of it as, like, bringing a shopping assistant to the store. It's really enhancing how people shop in the grocery store. And we know in the future people are going to choose online grocery, but they're also going to go to the store, the grocery store as a magical place.

For a few years in retail, we've been talking about this blending of digital and physical brick-and-mortar. This is bringing that data into the physical experience?

Yes, for grocery, it's the ultimate omnichannel experience.

Let’s talk about opportunities and challenges. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing digital advertising right now?

I would have to say fragmentation of media is the biggest challenge. Whether it’s streaming or social, there are so many streaming platforms, there are so many social platforms, and it just has intensified the fight for consumer attention.

The biggest thing in terms of fixing or addressing that challenge is first and foremost really understanding all the different platforms, no matter how hard that is to consume and keep track of. Understanding those platforms and then making sure that no matter what the platform is, you show up in a way that's universal for the consumer.

I’m always interested to know how leaders are thinking about what’s next. So for you, how do you stay current and how do you look to what's coming up?

Of course, as a marketer I'm consuming publications and listening to podcasts and really trying to make sure I keep a pulse there. But I would say one of the main ways that I do that is by leveraging and really listening to the voices on my team. One of the things that I'm really proud of is just how diverse Instacart's marketing team is, both from a professional and experience standpoint.

We have people who took a very technical route in marketing, people who are extremely creative and [those] have been an agency side. And so, I'm really proud of how diverse we are from a professional standpoint, but also we come from different backgrounds and different life stages.

Being able to listen to what people are experiencing out in the world, they're tapping into different cultural conversations and really leveraging those voices in terms of how we think about moving forward. It's been a huge unlock in terms of helping me stay fresh.

I love the way you're thinking about diversity with a direct line to innovation. And a direct line to seeing what's next.

Yes, it's so clear to me. There are always conversations about diversity, but when it comes to marketing, I do believe having a diverse team is really a huge unlock. Because otherwise, if you build a team and it's just folks like you, then you're just talking to other folks like you. So, it’s really core to understanding how to reach people.

What innovation do you see coming down the pike that you think is going to have the biggest impact on advertising in the next year or more?

It’s already here, but I would say retail media. There's just been so many more advancements as retail media is able to go off platform. I think that is really going to be the unlock for marketers. As a marketer myself, being able to really connect the dots between “What am I doing from a marketing perspective on social versus on streaming?” “Who am I reaching?” and then “What are they buying?” That whole loop is going to continue to be something that marketers really desire and need.

Last question: What is your hot take on media?

There’s so much happening in the media space. But one area that is really exciting is shoppable TV. Born out of the time of call-to-order, I remember watching those commercials late at night with my grandma, to now seeing the rebirth of shoppable TV, whether it be through QR code experiences, pause ads and so on. I think it's an interesting space that's going to continue to develop.