As grocers see the benefits of removing key friction points from their eCommerce channels, many are now seeking out ways to integrate commerce opportunities into consumers’ other digital routines.
On Monday (Jan. 3), for instance, supermarket chain Sprouts Farmers Market announced a weekly livestream series for the month of January aiming to convert consumers’ New Year’s resolution-inspired enthusiasm for wellness trends into grocery purchases. The series, Progressive Grocer reported, will focus on a range of health-related food topics, with weekly deals in the grocer’s app corresponding to the products and trends discussed in the videos.
Retailers are not the only food businesses leveraging the power of contextual commerce to drive sales. Also on Monday, Marquee Brands, parent company of Martha Stewart’s brands, announced a partnership with shopper marketing platform Chicory, which specializes in creating shoppable recipes, to integrate such features into Martha.com content. Given that the site sells both foods and cookware, opportunities for product recommendations abound.
“With Martha.com, we are focused on using digital technology to extend and enhance the values that have built Martha Stewart into one of the most trusted brands in the world,” Neil Fiske, CEO of Marquee Brands, said in a statement. “We are always looking for new ways to improve and simplify our customer’s shopping experience.”
Soon, the grocery industry’s contextual initiatives will likely extend beyond entertainment content into conversational commerce spaces such as SMS-based and voice-assisted ordering, given that these moves are a compelling way to reach the industry’s most connected customers. PYMNTS’ 2021 How We Eat Playbook, created in collaboration with Carat from Fiserv, found that consumers who order more of their groceries and restaurant meals online are three times as likely as others to use voice assistants.
Read more: Up for Grabs: Restaurants and Grocers See Path to Picking up 200 Million New Customers
One need only look at what nonprofit organizations are doing to get a sense of what the near future could hold for grocers. On Monday, nonprofit organization Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters campaign announced a partnership with Bright by Text, an organization focused on parent and caregiver education, to send healthy recipes via SMS. The potential usefulness of such capabilities to grocers is clear, allowing consumers to interact with their products the way they communicate with their friends.
“We know parents and caregivers are looking for quick, easy and affordable meal ideas and tips for feeding their families,” Jessica Caouette, senior content manager at Share Our Strength, said in a statement. “A partnership with Bright By Text helps us reach more families with timely and relevant tips, ideas and recipes delivered in a way that parents want.”
These initiatives come at a time when adoption of food sellers’ ecommerce channels is on the rise. Research from PYMNTS’ What Consumers Expect From Their Grocery Shopping Experiences study, created in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, shows that, between October of 2020 and June of 2021, an eight-month period, the share of consumers who reported that they are doing more of their grocery shopping online because they believe that digital options are easier and more convenient surged from 60% to 73%. As these channels become increasingly frictionless, the number of consumers taking advantage of them will only continue to rise.
Related news: Digital Features Can Help Grocers Win Over 43 Percent Of Shoppers
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