Californian smart retail pioneer Instacart is helping shoppers watch recipe videos and find ingredients from within retail storefronts and add the items to their cart.

The grocery technology company has introduced Immersive Feed, a short-form, vertical video feed that showcases meals and recipes, currently in pilot as part of Instacart’s suite of inspiration ads. Customers can now browse the video feed directly within their favourite retail storefronts on Instacart and seamlessly add items to their cart.

The experience gives consumers a familiar way to scroll, discover and shop meal ideas on Instacart, such as finding the best appetisers to pair with rosé or planning a meal for seasonal occasions, such as a family summer picnic.

“For more than a decade, people have come to Instacart for unmatched convenience, selection and quality from their favourite grocers, and we’ve seen first-hand how much they love discovering new meal ideas and recipes along the way,” said Ali Miller, general manager of advertising at Instacart. “Snackable vertical video has transformed how people get inspired with new recipes or the latest food trends to bring into their kitchen. Our Immersive Feed brings that familiar experience directly into our shopping journey. Now, our brand partners can meet consumers at the moment of inspiration through our latest ad experiences that make it effortless to move from discovery to purchase.”

Immersive Feed is designed to boost discovery, drive engagement and unlock incremental reach across the Instacart Ads ecosystem. Content in the Immersive Feed will be provided by Instacart’s more than 9000 brand partners, including Unilever-owned Hellmann’s, Kettle & Fire, Rachael Ray Nutrish and Siete Foods, with plans to expand to organic content through third-party partnerships and sponsored creator integrations. Brand partners can launch Immersive Feed campaigns directly through Instacart’s Ads Manager, using existing vertical video assets or creating new ones.

This builds on Instacart’s existing suite of Inspiration Ads (company.instacart.com/pressreleases/new-ad-solutions-spark-out-of-aisle-inspiration), designed to boost out-of-aisle awareness, drive conversion at tentpole moments and build brand affinity. Results show consumers are already discovering and converting through these formats.

Immersive Feed is available as 9:16 vertical video between five and thirty seconds in length. It is in early pilot with select brand partners and other curated content, with plans to expand to more partners later this year.

“At Hellmann’s, we know consumers are increasingly discovering recipes and food trends through short-form video, and Instacart’s new Immersive Feed brings that behaviour directly into the shopping experience,” said Cassie Booth from Unilever (www.unilever.com). “This tactic enables us to go beyond inspiration by pairing recipe videos with easy add-to-cart functionality, resulting in a seamless purchase journey.”

Instacart (www.instacart.com) is a grocery technology company that partners with more than 2200 retail banners, representing nearly 100,000 stores, to transform how people shop for groceries while creating flexible earning opportunities for retailers.