Recently EGG-NEWS commented on the Kroger initiative to enter the market for groceries in Florida without establishing brick-and-mortar supermarkets. Publix would be the obvious loser if the project is successful. Currently the company operates1,283 stores in seven southern southeastern states with a concentration in their home base of Florida.

As a preemptive response, Publix has established a strategic alliance with Instacart to launch "Publix Quick Picks" in Florida.  The program will be available across all stores in the state to deliver meals, snacks, groceries and household essentials in as little as 30-minutes in urban areas using the Instacart Priority Delivery service.  The Publix Quick Picks  program was tested in September 2021 in Tampa and the company is working intensively to mount a seven-state launch.

Orders can be placed on both the Publix E-site and the Instacart Convenience Hub.  This places Publix directly in competition with Kroger operating their Delivery Now service also in association with Instacart.

Chris Rogers, VP of Retail Sales at Instacart commented, "We are proud to expand our partnership with Publix to bring the in-store express lane online with Quick Picks that offers customers critical choice paired with fast delivery". 

Erik Katenkamp, VP of Omnichannel Applications for Publix stated, "our strong relationship with Instacart continues to unlock capabilities to meet the changing needs of our customers and we look forward to continuing to grow our portfolio of time-saving services".

Instacart operates with more than several hundred national regional and local retailers and delivers from 65,000 stores in 5,500 cities in North American to access 85 percent of U.S. households.