Instacart Ad Management

Built for brands that want depth.

Grocer Folk runs Instacart advertising for a small, select group of CPG brands. We study your unit economics, run fast tests, find where the real ROI lives, and scale what works — with white-glove attention and a lean team that keeps fees honest by design, not by accident.

Currently reviewing Q3 2026 applications

Blended ROAS

4.2x

↑ from 1.8x

New-to-Brand

38%

NTB rate

Weekly Spend

$14.2K

managed

Active Brands

12

founder-led CPG

$2.3M

Instacart ad spend managed

>3x

Profitable ROAS in the first 90 days

>70%

NTB sales rate — genuinely new customers

5

Active clients on our roster at any given time

The Model

We keep the roster small on purpose.

Most agencies scale by taking on more clients. We scale by going deeper with fewer. That's not a positioning statement — it's how the work actually gets done well.

01

We cap the roster so every brand gets our full attention

We don't manage 40 accounts. When you're in, you're in. Your campaigns get reviewed every week, your questions get answered the same day, and there's no junior account manager between you and the people doing the actual work.

02

We start with your business, not your campaigns

Unit economics, velocity goals, margin targets, distribution context. We need to understand what success actually looks like before we touch a bid. Most agencies skip this — it's why they optimize for ROAS while eroding your margin.

03

Fast tests, honest reads, and no padded reports

We run structured experiments in the first 30–60 days to find where the real ROI lives. We'll tell you when something isn't working before it costs you. Weekly reports are built for decisions, not decks.

04

We run lean — and pass every dollar of that saving directly to you

Our team uses AI to move fast and handle the operational overhead, so our attention goes entirely to strategy and your campaigns. No junior staff layers, no inflated agency markup — you get boutique attention at a fraction of what a traditional agency charges.

How It Ends

We build to hand off.

Most agencies make themselves hard to leave on purpose. We do the opposite — we build systems designed to outlast us, so you always have options.

Option A

Take it in-house

We don't just document as we go — we build a system designed for handoff from day one. Clean campaign structure, documented bid logic, keyword taxonomy, and a reporting setup your internal team can own the moment you're ready.

Option B

Keep us in a limited role

Some clients want us to stay on in a lighter capacity once the foundation is solid. Strategy, audits, and monthly reporting — without the full retainer. We'll tell you when you're ready for this.

Option C

Keep us fully on

If the ROI is there and you want us to keep running it, we stay. No lock-ins, no renewal pressure. We keep the engagement because it keeps working — not because it's hard to leave.

What We Do

We go deep. Not wide.

Six areas of focus. Every client gets all of them. Nothing is a bolt-on.

Sponsored Products

Keyword and product targeting for search placement. Bid strategy, negative keyword management, and match type structuring that puts your product in front of the right shopper at the right moment.

organic soup$0.24
instant ramen$0.97
frozen noodles$0.47

Brand Pages & Storefronts

Your storefront is where shoppers land when they click your brand. We build and optimize Brand Pages that convert browsers into buyers with the right product mix, layout, and copywriting.

Display & Retargeting

Upper-funnel awareness and lower-funnel retargeting using Instacart's display network. Reach lapsed buyers, conquest competitor shoppers, and reinforce brand recall at the moments that matter.

Analytics & Weekly Reporting

A custom weekly dashboard covering ROAS, NTB rate, spend pacing, keyword performance, and share of voice. Built for decisions, not decks — just the numbers your business depends on.

Weekly ROAS Trend

Promotions & Coupons

Deal mechanics tied to ad spend — coupons, promotional pricing, and Instacart+ offers that lift conversion rates without eroding baseline margin.

Strategy & Account Audits

For brands that want a second opinion or a clean start. We audit your structure, identify wasted spend, find keyword gaps, and give you a 90-day plan.

Every service. One team. No surprises.

Apply for a spot →
Real Numbers, Real Brands

Results that show up in your sales data.

We don't optimize for impressions. We optimize for the metrics that show up in your sales data — profitable ROAS, NTB rate, sales velocity, and share of voice on the categories that matter to your brand.

>3x

Profitable ROAS achieved in the first 90 days

>70%

NTB sales rate — genuinely new customers, not rebought loyalists

$2.3M

Total managed ad spend across CPG and food brands

5

Active clients on the roster — by design, not by accident

How We Work

What the first 90 days look like.

STEP 01

Audit

We start with your unit economics and velocity goals, not your keyword list. Then we review your account setup — or your competitor's if you're starting fresh — to find keyword gaps, wasted spend, bid inefficiencies, and missed placements before we touch anything.

STEP 02

Build

Clean campaign structure, right attribution settings, proper match types, and a bidding strategy that fits your budget and goals. We build to last — not to impress in week one and fall apart in month three.

STEP 03

Optimize

No set-it-and-forget-it. Every week we review performance data, adjust bids, expand or cut keywords, and shift budget toward what's working. You get a weekly report that actually makes sense.

STEP 04

Scale

Once we know what converts, we scale it. Higher budgets on winning keywords, new campaign types, seasonal pushes, or expanding into new categories where your product can win.

They took the time to understand our margins before touching our campaigns. Our ROAS went well past 3x in the first quarter, and more importantly, over 70% of those sales were new customers. That's the kind of growth that actually compounds.
HE

Head of eCommerce

CPG brand, Instacart client

Apply for a spot.

We review applications and reach out when we have capacity. Spots open a few times a year — we keep the roster small on purpose.

Currently reviewing applications for Q3 2026