What is a demo order on Instacart?
Instacart was founded by Apoorva Mehta in 2012 and has been the largest grocery pickup and delivery company in the United States since then. In addition to grocery delivery, they also offer alcohol delivery, although the feature is only available in 14 states in the US and Canada.
To make a delivery or pickup request on Instacart, whether it’s a grocery or alcohol request, all you have to do is log into your Instacart app, select your desired grocery item or exact drink, and place your order. Once you do this, your order will be filled immediately by an Instacart shopper, who will shop on your behalf, and it will be delivered to your designated pickup location or to your home address.
What is a demo order on Instacart?
The Instacart demo order is just a feature of the Instacart app that allows Instacart shoppers to practice how to fill out a customer’s order before accepting any real Instacart order. Basically, the Instacart demo order is just a form of training the company provides to its shoppers to learn how to properly fill out a customer’s order.
The company uses the demo order feature to simulate a real Instacart order to help new shoppers understand how the Instacart shopper app works when placing an order.
To make it better for those unfamiliar with Instacart, shoppers are simply Instacart staff who shop for a customer’s order after placing it and deliver the order to the customer’s home or drop it off at a designated pickup location.
There are two types of these shoppers; in-store workers who receive customer orders complete the order by picking it up at the grocery store where they are stationed and dropping it off at a designated pickup location.
Another type of shopper is the full-service person. Full-service workers are independent contractors who work part-time with Instacart to earn some extra income.
Such workers receive customer orders, then buy the orders themselves from the grocery store, and then deliver the orders to the customer’s home.
Home delivery is provided by full-service workers, unlike in-store workers whose job is simply to fill out your grocery order and deliver it to a place where you can pick it up yourself or send a rider.
Where can I find the “Demo Order” feature on Instacart?
The Instacart demo order feature is only available in the Instacart Shopper app. To find this feature, simply log into your shopper app and select the menu icon on the page. Then go ahead and select the demo order feature.
After selecting the demo order feature, different grocery retailers such as Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Publix, etc. will be displayed. You just select the retail store where you want to demonstrate.
Then, after selecting your preferred retail store, additional information will appear. These include fake customer addresses, fake customer grocery orders, and distance to the fake customer’s preferred grocery store.
New shoppers should again note at this point that this is a demo order, not a real order from an actual customer.
When browsing demo orders, you’ll come across additional buttons like you’d normally see on real Instacart orders.
An example of this is the “item not found” button, but also the “message customer,” which can be used to chat with customers to tell them whether a certain grocery item is in stock or to make other suggestions.
You can also mark products as found using the Found Item button, which is what you do on a real Instacart shopping journey.
Also, just like a real Instacart order, you’ll also see the value of the order and how much you’ll earn if you accept it. You’ll also see how much Instacart will pay you for filling out the order, and how much tip the customer has set to reward you.
After this, you can click “Accept” and the simulation starts automatically.
Read: When will the Instacart batch start?
Is the demo order a real order?
The demo order feature is just a form of practice for new shoppers to learn how to fill out customer orders when they are just starting out shopping. Demo orders allow new shoppers to get acquainted with how the Instacart app works.
However, many new shoppers don’t know if they really have to fill out the order listed under the demo order. In fact, some Instacart shoppers on Reddit admitted that they didn’t know they didn’t have to actually fill out the demo order, and they tried to actually fill the order until their Instacart card was rejected by the grocery retailer.
The most confusing part of the demo order feature is that, just like a real Instacart customer order, the demo order also requires a barcode scan of the item being picked. However, this barcode scan can be manually skipped by simply marking the item as purchased.
Note that this only applies to demo orders as you cannot skip barcode scanning of selected items when filling out a real order.
However, new shoppers should not mistake demo orders for real ones. Demo orders exist only as a form of practice, and orders listed are not meant to be executed.
Customer addresses and shopping lists shown are simulations and are used for practice purposes only.
Read: Does Instacart accept EBT?
Do you get paid for demo orders on Instacart?
Since neither Instacart nor any of the customers have done any currency exchange during the demo order, the company will not pay you for the demo order. Such orders exist only as a form of practice.
Demo orders are not meant to be filled at all, so Instacart cannot pay you. You only do demo orders to get used to how the Instacart app works.
Instacart demo orders don’t require you to actually go to the grocery store or deliver any groceries to the addresses listed. You can simply stay home and complete the demo order with ease.
Do you have to place a demo order on Instacart?
While new shoppers might think they have to go through demo order training to become a full Instacart shopper, that’s not the case. Instacart demo order training is entirely optional.
However, it is highly recommended that you complete the training as it will properly familiarize you with the instacart shopper application interface.
For additional tips on what to do when starting out with Instacart as a new shopper, we’ve posted a number of articles about the company on the site. You should check out these articles in your free time.
Want to learn more about Instacart? Check out our related posts to find out if Instacart offers cigarettes, Instacart offers alcohol and Can you work for Shipt and Instacart?
in conclusion…
New Instacart shoppers are strongly encouraged to attend demo order training, even though Instacart is not mandatory.
This is to avoid errors when fulfilling customer orders in the real world, as mistakes in filling out orders or delivering items can give you bad reviews from customers.
As a new Instacart shopper, make sure you reach customer satisfaction to get good reviews, as great reviews may lead to more delivery orders for you.
In conclusion, new shoppers should be aware that demo orders are not real orders as they are for training purposes only and such orders are not expected to be executed.
Although demo orders may contain real addresses and grocery shopping lists, they are for training purposes only.
New shoppers should also note that they will not be paid for demo order training. They will only be paid for submitting actual orders in accordance with Instacart company policy.
