Competition From Uber and DoorDash Looms Large Even as Instacart Maintains Its Leadership Position

Instacart (Maplebear) is the market leader among intermediary platforms that aggregate consumer demand for groceries, which according to eMarketer will grow at 13% annually to around a $77 billion market by 2027. In our view, Instacart is building a network effect moat between retailers, consumers, shoppers, who gather and deliver grocery orders, and advertisers. However, we do not think the firm has reached the point where its network can easily fend off fierce competition from DoorDash and Uber, which also have strong network effect platforms and have gained market share.