Dive Brief:

• As demand for home delivery continues to be strong, Instacart on Thursday announced a partnership with Family Dollar to deliver items from more than 6,000 locations in the U.S., according to a press release emailed to Retail Dive.

• Users can now order personal care items, electronics, household goods and other essentials through the Instacart app and have them delivered in as fast as one hour, the company said.

• The partnership is an expansion of a 275-store pilot that began in late 2020 between the two companies.

Dive Insight:

Consumers continue to rely on home delivery services as they look to avoid stores, and now Family Dollar is getting in on the trend with its own partnership with Instacart.

For Family Dollar, the collaboration is an extension of the retailer's efforts to serve its customers better, Mike Witynski, president and CEO of Dollar Tree, said in a statement. The retailer grew its relationship with Instacart following successful results from the pilot, Witynski said. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought success for some dollar store retailers, including Family Dollar and Dollar General. It remains to be seen how dollar stores will fare post-pandemic, but their role as low-cost options for consumers could position them well for however long finances remain strained.

Now that Instacart has teamed up with Family Dollar, the delivery platform has nearly 600 national, regional and local retail partners across 5,550 cities in North America. Among the other retailers that have harnessed Instacart's delivery network are Best Buy, Sephora and Walmart. However, Instacart has not been without its challenges. Protocol reported last month that the company laid off nearly 2,000 workers, including some who voted to unionize.