Academy Sports Adds Instacart Same-Day Delivery Across 300 Stores

Academy Sports Puts 300 Stores on Instacart's Marketplace

Academy Sports and Outdoors is expanding its same-day delivery network again. The retailer is adding more than 300 stores across 21 states to Instacart's marketplace, giving shoppers access to camping, fishing, team sports and other categories with delivery in as little as one hour.

The company said it will charge the same prices on Instacart as in its physical stores, an attempt to make the delivery option feel like a true extension of the shelf rather than a premium channel. This is Academy's second major delivery partnership in recent months: it began offering same-day service through Uber Eats in June.

The move is part of a broader brick-and-mortar and e-commerce expansion. Academy has told analysts it plans to open 125 stores over the next five years, with about one-fifth entering newer markets. Its latest quarterly results showed net sales of $1.4 billion, up 6.7% year over year, and a 2.9% increase in comparable sales.

For Instacart, the deal continues a push beyond groceries. The platform now works with more than 2,200 national and local retailers and recently added Tractor Supply for same-day delivery across more than 2,400 stores.

Why Academy Is Running Two Same-Day Delivery Networks

Academy Is Building Delivery Redundancy, Not Just Reach

By pairing Instacart with its existing Uber Eats arrangement, Academy is hedging its final-mile capacity rather than depending on one platform. That gives it coverage across different shopper bases, but it also means two store integrations and two delivery-fee structures to manage. The operational burden is manageable for a retailer of Academy's size, but the benefit depends on whether each platform adds incremental demand rather than simply splitting existing online orders.

Price Parity Removes a Friction Point

Academy's promise to charge store prices on Instacart is a direct response to a recurring criticism of delivery marketplaces: that the shelf price and the online price drift apart. Instacart previously ended a program that let retailers charge different prices online after Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative investigated the practice. Academy is now making parity a selling point, although the announcement does not specify how delivery or service fees will be treated.

Tractor Supply Shows Where the Category Is Heading

Academy is not alone in using Instacart to extend sporting goods and outdoor assortment into same-day delivery. Tractor Supply added its 2,400-plus store base last month. For Instacart, these partnerships deepen its non-grocery catalog, but for specialty retailers they raise the bar: if a competitor can deliver the same gear in an hour at the same price, convenience becomes a less durable differentiator.

The Store Expansion and Delivery Model Need to Work Together

Academy's five-year plan to open 125 stores is built on omnichannel reach. A new store's value rises if local customers can discover shelf availability through Instacart and receive the product within an hour. But that only holds if inventory data is accurate and same-price delivery does not erode the incremental margin from those new locations.

What the Instacart Tie-Up Means for Academy and Its Peers

• Academy's management should quantify per-order profitability under price parity. With Q1 net income at $52.7 million and comparable sales up 2.9%, Instacart fees will only be absorbed cleanly if delivery baskets are materially larger than in-store baskets. Otherwise the same-price promise converts revenue without equivalent profit.
• Peer retailers should assume price parity is becoming the standard for Instacart partnerships. Instacart ended differentiated online pricing after Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative's inquiries, and Academy is now using parity as a visible customer promise.
• Brands selling through Academy need correct inventory feeds across 300 stores and 21 states. One-hour delivery makes out-of-stock or inaccurate local availability immediately visible in a way standard e-commerce does not.
• Investors should anchor the next earnings comparison to the $1.4 billion net sales base. The test is whether the added Instacart traffic lifts the 2.9% comparable sales pace without a sharp decline in operating margin from delivery costs.