While a variety of retailers and companies from Lego to Twitter to Mars, discussed the nuances and variables of the consumer journey at Shopper Insights & Retail Activation in Chicago this June, it was Buzzfeed’s Tasty that introduced an innovative idea to a common problem: What’s for dinner?
Providing quantitative evidence of this age old problem, Tasty argued that grocery shopping at home was particularly a problem for millennials, 62% of which say “grocery shopping is too inconvenient.” They also claimed, according to Tasty, that they go to more than three stores to get everything they need. Twenty-eight percent admitted they don’t know where to start when it comes to meal preparation.
A particularly interesting statistic that the Tasty team uncovered, which has massive implications for marketers, is what consumers were searching at different times of the day. Peaking at three o’clock in the afternoon, most consumers use the search phrase “recipes”. However, between that time and five o’clock “take-out” eclipse “recipes” essentially removing these consumers from the pool of meal preparers to the pool of restaurant consumers.
Despite these interesting facts, Tasty isn’t in the business of just divulging information. Partnering with Wal-mart, the company is working on an innovative way to use their content to drive commerce. In fact, the company makes the bold claim that “modern retailers will act more like media companies” in the future. Buzzfeed and Tasty are hoping they can help.
The Tasty team starts with the idea that the “new generation needs grocery experiences that provide inspiration, ease and instruction.” Inspiration comes from the company’s content, especially Tasty videos, which will inspire users to cook with featured products. In supermarkets, videos will be played at end caps. Below the television, consumers can pick up the ingredients as well as recipe cards, which are instructional. Having inspiration and instruction in one place fulfills the company’s final goal of ease for consumers. Curbside pickup or delivery further substantiates the ease value proposition.
Whether or not Tasty’s claim that modern retailers will become media companies is still to be seen, but the importance of content for meal preparation is evident in the plethora of recipe websites. Furthermore, their goals of inspiration – especially at peak times – instruction and ease run parallel with home meal kit companies, third-party delivery companies like GrubHub and even social media outlets like Instagram. These three important goals are currently and will in the future guide consumer retail behavior.