Have you ever enjoyed special bonuses from your favorite retail store just for being a consistent customer? Giving customers special bonuses as a way of encouraging their patronage is what retail stores do.
Most times when you stick around as a loyal customer, you’re given a different bonus that basically appreciates you for your loyalty. That’s the secret behind reward and loyalty cards.
These days, grocery shopping is primarily done online, and stores are ready to deliver directly to your doorstep to make things comfortable for you.
Instacart is one of the leading online platforms where you can shop for groceries from your favorite stores and have the groceries delivered to you.
What’s more is that Instacart allows shoppers to use their loyalty and reward cards to shop for groceries.
If you have an Ibotta account, then you can shop with it on Instacart. But there’s something you should know.
Can Instacart Shoppers Use Ibotta?
Yes, you can link your Ibotta account to your Instacart and earn cash back on purchases. Linking your Ibotta account to your Instacart is fairly straightforward and you’ll only have to do it once.
To learn everything about your Ibotta account and how to link it, keep reading…
What Is Ibotta?
Among the numerous bonuses and special offers stores offer to their customers, is the cash back value on every purchase.
This means that you get to earn real cash when you spend on shopping for groceries. Ibotta is an online platform that offers users free cash back rewards on groceries and other regular purchases.
With Ibotta, online customers can earn cash back rewards by shopping with over 2700 brands and retail stores that are in partnership with Ibotta.
The beauty about Ibotta is that the cash back rewards are not just on groceries alone. You can enjoy cash back rewards on purchases such as electronicas, clothing and drinks as well.
Ibotta has paid out cash back rewards of up to $1.2 billion to over 40 million users since it launched in 2012.
Read: Why Did Instacart Charge Me More?
What is a Reward or Loyalty Card?
Depending on the program a retail store is running, you may be given either a reward or loyalty card. Reward cards and loyalty cards are almost alike in that they offer special offers, and cash back bonuses, they’re used for different programs.
A reward card is usually used for a reward program. It basically uses a reward system that calculates the amount of times you visit a particular retail store, and offers cash back rewards in return for your accumulated visits.
Reward programs are open to all customers, and all you need is to sign up with your contact details. You’ll be given a reward card with an electronic profile that calculates your reward points per visit to the retail store.
What’s more is that a rewards program also rewards the size of your purchases.
A loyalty card is just like a reward card, but it is used for a loyalty program. You can think of it like a card that rewards you with bonuses for your loyalty as a customer. Loyalty rewards and bonuses are mostly concerned about your loyal and consistent visit to the store.
As such, the bonuses and special offers are given irrespective of how many items you buy in a single purchase. To sign up for a loyalty program, you only need to provide your contact details to the retail store.
In all, both programs help encourage you to shop from a particular store consistently, and it’s a great way for retail stores to collect user data and recommend purchases and special offers.
Can I Use Reward Or Loyalty Cards With Instacart As A Shopper?
It’s possible to use reward or loyalty cards on Instacart. As a leading platform for shopping groceries online, Instacart partners with a vast network of retail stores.
Basically, when you’re shopping on Instacart, you’re shopping from these retail stores as it’s their products that are displayed on Instacart, and they’re the ones who will process and deliver your order.
So, if you wish to use a reward or loyalty card on Instacart as a shopper, you first have to determine if the retail store that owns the rewards or loyalty card is in partnership with instacart.
Since a reward or loyalty card is only given out during a rewards or loyalty program, then you have to find out if there’s a live rewards or loyalty program with the store.
Once you know that the retail store is in partnership with Instacart and is currently running a rewards or loyalty program, then you can simply link your rewards or loyalty card to your Instacart account.
While shopping on Instacart, it’s possible to filter your shopping feed to display retail stores with live reward and loyalty programs you can benefit from.
To use a reward or loyalty card on Instacart, here’s what to do:
- First click on the options bar (3 stacked horizontal lines at the upper left corner of your screen).
- Scroll down and click on “Account Settings”, and click on “Loyalty Cards”. In the next window, you’ll see a list of stores with reward and loyalty cards that you can add.
- Click on the “Add” button next to the store whose reward or loyalty card you wish to use on Instacart.
- You’ll be prompted to input your reward or loyalty card number. Do this and click on “Save”.
If you’re shopping directly on the Instacart website, you can repeat the process by going to your account setting:
- Click on “Loyalty Cards”
- When the loyalty stores window fully loads, click on “Add Loyalty Card” directly under the store you wish to link its loyalty card to your Instacart.
- Type in your loyalty card number into the space provided and save.
Although you can link your reward or loyalty card to your Instacart account, Instacart cannot confirm the receipt of your loyalty card’s information yet.
For confirmation, you can simply reach out to the retail store whose card you tried linking to your Instacart account, and provide them with your Instacart receipt.
Read: What Time Does Instacart Open?
Can Instacart Use Fetch Rewards?
Fetch Rewards is an online shopping platform that offers cash back rewards to shoppers for shopping from brands and retail partners.
Fetch Rewards is one of the leading platforms that offers amazing cash back rewards to its users.
All it does is to simply scan your shopping receipts to determine your cash back reward.
Fetch Rewards was born out of the need to safeguard online shoppers from fraud, and to reward customers for their loyalty and consistent patronage to brands and retail partners.
Fetch Rewards has a vast network of brands and retails stores it partners with, and thankfully Instacart is one of such partners.
This simply means that you can link your Fetch Rewards account with your Instacart account and claim your cash back rewards.
Ibotta or Fetch Rewards: Which Is Better To Use With Instacart?
Although both platforms are great in offering cash back rewards on every purchase with Instacart, there are some unique differences.
For starters, Ibotta offers better welcome bonus for new signups. Ibotta offers more earning options and flexible options to redeem your rewards.
However, if you’re looking for what’s faster and easier to use, then your best bet is to sign up with Fetch Rewards. Fetch Rewards only needs you to upload your purchase receipts for it to scan and calculate your reward points.
This is a much better option compared to Ibotta that requires you to scan barcodes on purchased products that you’ve already delivered.
What’s more is that Fetch Rewards easily shows you the available and most valuable special offers and bonuses immediately you click on the “Discover” section on the app.
Ibotta is generally slower as you need to go through a lot of clicks.
With the recent disabling of Instacart on Ibotta and the potential difficulties it’ll cost, there’s no doubt that Ibotta isn’t the best option right now.
Read: Does Instacart Take EBT?
Conclusion…
Shopping on Instacart comes with lots of perks. You can easily earn on instacart by shopping for others as a full service shopper or an in-store shopper.
But that’s not all. If you’re not interested in shopping for others, you can also earn by redeeming your cash back rewards.
With Fetch Rewards or Ibotta, you’re guaranteed to earn cool cash on every purchase, and if you’re consistent with patronizing a particular brand on Instacart, you’ll automatically qualify for loyalty bonuses and rewards.
Setting up your rewards or loyalty card on Instacart is simple and fast, and you can either use the Instacart app or log on to the website to complete the process.