The assertion: Amazon’s push into fresh grocery delivery is more of an opportunity than a threat for Instacart, CEO Chris Rogers said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference.

• Instacart’s gross transaction value (GTV), churn, and Instacart+ engagement in markets where Amazon piloted the service was consistent with trendlines in the rest of the US.
• Grocers immediately reached out to Instacart following Amazon’s announcement seeking ways to stay competitive—which the company predicts will translate to greater demand for its enterprise and technology offerings.

The big picture: At this point, few retailers can compete directly with Walmart and Amazon on delivery speed. Those giants are in an all-out push to get goods to customers faster: Walmart US CEO John Furner recently boasted that one package was delivered in under 5 minutes, while Amazon CEO Andy Jassy touted record delivery speeds in Q2 and a 30% YoY increase in the number of items delivered same or next day.

That leaves room for third-party delivery intermediaries like Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber to help them bridge the gap.

• Both DoorDash and Instacart have made strategic acquisitions in the past year to beef up their enterprise offerings, looking to position themselves as partners that can help accelerate retail ecommerce businesses and make more money from advertising.
• And it’s not just grocers signing on to leverage these platforms’ capabilities: A growing number of retailers, including Dollar General, Ace Hardware, and Sephora, are inking partnerships to offer shoppers on-demand, fast delivery.

Our take: While Instacart is right to see enterprise opportunities from chains worried about Amazon’s grocery expansion, it is also vulnerable to the retailer’s encroachment on its turf and similar efforts from Uber, DoorDash, and Walmart.

• Although Instacart currently has an edge in the number of SKUs being offered, Amazon and Walmart are undercutting the delivery platform on price, according to a note from Wells Fargo analysts.