DoorDash Is Buying Instacart. What Should CPG Brands Do With Their Grocery Ad Budgets?
DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for about $17 billion. The deal won't close before late 2027, so here's what CPG brands should and shouldn't change now.
On October 29, 2026, DoorDash agreed to acquire Instacart for $65 a share, an equity value of about $17 billion. The companies expect it to close at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028, after Instacart shareholder and antitrust approvals, and until then DoorDash Ads and Instacart Ads keep operating separately. For CPG brands, nothing about 2026 holiday or 2027 grocery media buying has to change yet. What's worth doing now is getting your Instacart and DoorDash results onto the same measurement basis, keeping product content consistent across both apps and the grocer websites Instacart powers, and treating the combined company as a likely third retail media buy next to Amazon and Walmart in 2028 planning, not as a reason to move budget today.
- DoorDash agreed on October 29, 2026 to buy Instacart for about $17 billion, with closing expected at the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028.
- Until closing, DoorDash and Instacart run as separate companies, so DoorDash Ads and Instacart Ads remain separate buys.
- Instacart's advertising and other revenue grew 23% to $331 million in Q3 2026, faster than its orders or transaction revenue.
- Instacart's ad activity skews to CPG food and beverage, while DoorDash's is more mixed, so the combined network would join the weekly grocery shop with the under-an-hour top-up order.
- The useful work now is measurement and content hygiene across both apps, not reallocating budget on a deal that may take 18 months or more to close.
On this page
- What did DoorDash actually agree to buy?
- How long until anything changes for advertisers?
- Why does Instacart's ad business matter so much here?
- What would a combined DoorDash and Instacart offer CPG brands?
- Will a combined network cost brands more?
- What should CPG brands do now?
- How does this fit with what Amazon and Walmart are doing?
- FAQ
A week ago DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart. If you sell food, beverage, pet or household products, your retail media rep has probably already called about it.
Here's my short answer to the question they'll leave you with: don't move a dollar because of this deal yet. It won't close for a long time, and nobody has said what the combined ad product looks like. But there's prep work that pays off whether the deal closes or not, and most brands aren't doing it.
What did DoorDash actually agree to buy?
The announcement on October 29 values Instacart at $65 a share, about $17 billion in equity, a 26% premium to its October 22 close. At least 75% of it is cash.
Instacart isn't just the green app. It works with more than 2,200 retail banners covering nearly 100,000 stores, and it runs three businesses: the Instacart Marketplace, Instacart Enterprise (the tech that powers many grocers' own websites and fulfillment) and Instacart Ads.
DoorDash says it expects to keep Instacart's brand, its app and its enterprise technology products. It also made two commitments worth noting. Grocers can keep working with any delivery platform they want, so no grocery exclusivity. And DashPass and Instacart+ members would pay one membership fee instead of two.
The release says it plainly: "Brands would gain a scaled alternative for reaching customers online." That line is aimed at you.
How long until anything changes for advertisers?
Longer than the headlines suggest. The companies expect the deal to close "in the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028." It still needs Instacart shareholder approval, the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review and approvals in Canada and Israel.
Until then, in DoorDash's words, they "will continue to operate as separate and independent companies." Separate sales teams, separate ad platforms, separate reporting.
So your 2026 holiday plan doesn't change. Neither does most of your 2027 plan. If someone pitches you a "combined" package before closing, ask what exactly is combined, because legally it can't be much.
Why does Instacart's ad business matter so much here?
Because it's growing faster than the rest of Instacart. In Instacart's Q3 2026 results, advertising and other revenue grew 23% to $331 million. Orders grew 10% to 91.4 million. Gross transaction value grew 15% to $10.5 billion.
PPC Land worked back from those growth rates and estimates that advertising and other revenue per order rose from about $3.23 to $3.62 in a year. That's their math, not Instacart's, but the direction is clear. Instacart is earning more ad money from each basket.
Some of that is your money. If you've watched your Instacart cost per click creep up while units stayed flat, this is the other side of that chart.
One caveat. Instacart doesn't split "advertising and other" into pure ads versus brand partnerships and other income, so treat the $331 million as an upper bound for ads.
What would a combined DoorDash and Instacart offer CPG brands?
The two networks attract different advertisers. Sensor Tower's October 2026 report on delivery retail media found Instacart had 49% of delivery retail media impressions so far in 2026, up from 24% in the same period of 2024. Its activity centered on CPG: food items were 47% of impressions and beverages 18%.
DoorDash ranked second at 28% of impressions but had more advertisers, 496 brands against Instacart's 306. Its mix was the most balanced, with no category above 22%.
Put those together and you get the pitch. Instacart has the big weekly grocery basket. DoorDash has the under-an-hour order: the forgotten detergent, the cold medicine at 10 p.m., the six-pack for the game. Digiday notes DoorDash processed 993 million total orders in its third quarter.
For a snack or beverage brand, seeing both occasions for the same household is genuinely useful. It's the closest thing outside Amazon and Walmart to a full picture of how one home buys your category.
I'd still keep expectations in check. In the same Digiday piece, Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise put it well: "bigger platforms don't automatically mean simplicity." Two ad stacks, two data models and two sales orgs take years to merge. Amazon and Walmart aren't waiting.
Will a combined network cost brands more?
Probably, at least for the inventory that matters. Digiday quotes buyers who think the scope of the data could justify premium pricing, and fewer independent networks usually means less negotiating room for brands.
There's an upside to watch for too. DoorDash received the Alliance for Audited Media's incrementality certification in September, and Instacart has held Media Rating Council accreditation since 2024, per Digiday. If the merged business keeps both standards, you'd get audited measurement across grocery and convenience orders. If it doesn't, push back.
The bigger worry for grocers, as IGD's analysis points out, is how much of their customer data and retail media revenue they're comfortable handing to one outside partner. That's their call. For brands, it matters because the grocer's own site ads, often powered by Instacart, could end up sold alongside the app inventory.
What should CPG brands do now?
Not much spending. Mostly housekeeping. Here's the list I'd work through before 2027 planning closes:
Put Instacart and DoorDash results on one scorecard with the same metrics: ad spend, attributed sales, new-to-brand and cost per incremental unit where each platform offers it. Write down each platform's attribution window and default settings now, so you can spot it when they change after closing. Check that titles, sizes, images and nutrition details match across Instacart, DoorDash and the grocer sites Instacart powers. One wrong pack size shows up in three places. Separate your weekly-shop SKUs from your top-up SKUs. The first belong in Instacart planning, the second in quick-delivery planning. Track total ad cost as a share of sales on each app, not just return on ad spend, so price increases show up before they hurt margin. Keep 2027 budgets on today's results. Flag the combined network as a 2028 line item, not a 2027 one.
The scorecard is the one that pays back fastest. It is common to see Instacart and DoorDash reported in different decks, built by different people, using each platform's own attribution. That makes it nearly impossible to say which one is actually earning the next dollar. It's the same problem we wrote about in why marketplace brands need one source of truth, and a merger only makes it louder.
If retail media is new territory for your team, start with total ad cost of sales, not ROAS. It's harder to flatter.
How does this fit with what Amazon and Walmart are doing?
It's the third piece of the same story. Amazon told investors on October 29 that groceries and everyday essentials were about half its units in Q3, which we broke down here. Walmart is opening its store to outside AI shopping agents.
Everyone wants the grocery basket because it's the most frequent purchase there is. Whoever owns it sells the most valuable ads.
DoorDash plus Instacart is the attempt to do that without owning stores. It might work. It might also spend 2027 in antitrust review. Either way, a brand with clean data across every app, and listings that read the same everywhere, is in better shape than one waiting to see who wins.
That's the part you control. If you want a read on how your products show up across marketplaces and AI shopping assistants today, XENA 360 and SearchPanel are where we'd start, and our customer stories show what that work looked like for other brands.
Frequently asked questions
When will the DoorDash and Instacart deal close?
The companies said they expect closing at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. It needs Instacart shareholder approval, expiry of the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period and regulatory approvals in Canada and Israel. Until then they operate as separate and independent companies.
Will Instacart Ads and DoorDash Ads merge?
Neither company has said how the two ad businesses will be combined. The announcement only says the combined company would offer the advertising and AI tools each has built, and that DoorDash expects to keep Instacart's brand, app and enterprise technology products after closing.
Should CPG brands move ad budget to Instacart or DoorDash now?
Not because of the deal. Budget should follow what each platform returns for your products today. The deal changes 2028 planning more than 2026 or 2027 buying, and the terms, pricing and reporting of a combined offer aren't known yet.
How big is Instacart's advertising business?
Instacart reported advertising and other revenue of $331 million for Q3 2026, up 23% year over year and equal to 3.1% of gross transaction value. It doesn't break out how much of that line is advertising versus other revenue.
Does the deal affect grocers that use Instacart's technology for their own websites?
Instacart's enterprise technology powers ecommerce, fulfillment and retail media for grocers' own sites, and DoorDash says it expects to keep those products. DoorDash also committed to no grocery exclusivity, meaning local grocers can keep working with any delivery platform they choose.
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Glossary terms in this article
Sources
- DoorDash: DoorDash to Acquire Instacart to Help Local Stores Win (Oct. 29, 2026)
- Instacart: Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results (Oct. 29, 2026)
- PPC Land: Instacart ad revenue gains 23% to $331m in quarter before DoorDash deal (Oct. 29, 2026)
- Digiday: The questions on advertisers' minds after the DoorDash-Instacart deal (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Sensor Tower: Inside Retail Media on the Top Delivery Platforms (Oct. 2026)
- IGD: DoorDash's Instacart deal could redraw grocery ecommerce (Oct. 30, 2026)
XENA results quoted in this article are as published by XENA Intelligence on the linked pages. Third-party facts are from the linked official documentation, checked Nov 4, 2026.
