Sources: DinnerTime.com, Peapod
Will personalized meal plans increase Peapod’s order sizes?
Peapod has partnered with DinnerTime.com, a subscription-based personalized meal recommendation service, to link meal planning to the sales flyer.
In the 24 U.S. markets Peapod serves, DinnerTime members can now select Peapod as their preferred grocer. By clicking “what’s on sale” at Peapod, members can customize a seven-day meal plan and shopping list based on what Peapod has on sale. With a push of a button, the personalized meal plan and shopping list automatically creates a Peapod order for at-home delivery or pick-up at one of Peapod’s locations.
DinnerTime recommends meals based upon each household’s tastes, budget, food allergies and other dietary restrictions and preferences. Other factors weighed include time to prep and cook, skill level and nutritional goals.
The subscription service costs $10 a month and is currently being offered at a discount for $89 per year. Peapod represents DinnerTime’s first transactional arrangement with a food retailer. Founded in 2010, DinnerTime has traditionally coordinated its recommendations with available online sales fliers of its members’ preferred grocers.
DinnerTime has more than 10 million different meal combinations of highly curated, kitchen-tested recipes. For an average family of four using DinnerTime each week, the service promises savings of more than $100 per month.
“At Peapod, we understand that our customers are not just shopping for ingredients, they’re shopping for convenient meal solutions,” said Carrie Bienkowski, chief marketing and creative officer at Peapod, in a statement.
“Everything we do is designed to make it easy and convenient for members to plan ahead and shop ahead for delicious meals made-at-home with great ingredients,” said DinnerTime CEO, Laura Moore. “More time with family and friends, less stress and strain. Delivery is the obvious next step.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of the appeal of DinnerTime and such meal recommendation services? Will the partnership with DinnerTime likely pay dividends for Peapod?
Poll
BrainTrust
John Karolefski
Editor-in-Chief, CPGmatters
Jon Polin
Cofounder and President, StorePower
What’s there not to like? Peapod enhances its service and remains a vibrant player. The consumer can opt for personalized meals for a modest fee. I’d call that a win-win.
I just spent three days in Miami with a group of people who kept mentioning how valuable they think meal delivery services are. These are meeting the needs of some people and seem to have legs; it would be smart of Peapod to get out in front of this and grab market share away from lesser-known competitors.
In thinking about the components of a successful meal planning and recommendation service, I think of 1.) an audience of engaged customers, 2.) ingredients, 3.) technology and 4.) marketing collateral. Grocers such as Peapod have the inherent advantage of already having access to at least two of these components (plus a recognized brand), so this marriage between DinnerTime and Peapod is a logical one.
Assuming strong execution, there should be no reason for Peapod customers to look elsewhere for a meal planning service since they can now add this service to their existing Peapod relationship. I suspect we will see other grocers more aggressively defending their turf against the Plateds, Blue Aprons and other venture capital-backed upstarts in the meal planning world.
DinnerTime and Peapod make a good match. One plans meal solutions while the other can deliver the ingredients. With many meal solution options in the marketplace this match should benefit both companies.
Loyalty programs have become so ubiquitous that it is hard to keep track of them or think about specific ones and what rewards they might garner. For every retailer program I simply take discounts — “please don’t make me think about accumulating or using points.”
For travel programs (hotel, rental cars, airlines) I earn them on business trips and use the accumulated points for pleasure (hotels rooms, cars and tickets). I’ve exceeded 1 million points/miles on three programs so I could certainly take the experiences, but why? If I wouldn’t buy the experience, why would I want to use my points?
Maybe the promotion of these experiences increases the profile of the program and gives people a dream. But I don’t think in reality that the vast majority of users really use them.
Every day at 4 p.m. most Americans do not know what they are going to have for dinner that evening. Meal planning is still the bane of most heads of households. The question of what’s for dinner should have an easy answer. DinnerTime provides a simple solution. While the meal still needs to be prepared, the planning, recipe and ingredient processes are addressed. For Peapod this partnership marries its ingredient fulfillment capabilities with customized recipes. A potential win-win for both parties as well as for harried consumers.
This is a no-brainer. There is significant growth in the vast array of resources that help people simplify their meals. It continues to be about convenience. And the demographics are working in its favor. My introduction to all these meal choices has been by those a generation younger than I.
I think there is a portion of the market that will love it and a good deal of the market that won’t ever opt in. As for Peapod, I think it will increase their business, but not exponentially.
This could be great. When can I try it?
For those of us who lack culinary talent or the time to plan meals to cook for the week, meal recommendation services like DinnerTime simply make sense. By combining a recommendation service with a grocery service, it just adds to the convenience factor. Peapod edges out its competitors by partnering directly with a service that already targets the same market as them. Seems like a win-win situation to me.
This is a win-win for both brands. DinnerTime gets to expand its audience by adding convenience and Peapod adds a new service to help gain new customers and encourage existing ones to spend more by providing a convenience.
The grocery segment is undergoing dramatic change and innovation. This is just one example of creating added value through digital interaction with customers!
Success will be dependent on how tightly this service is integrated with Peapod’s home delivery and on-sales items. Services such as Blue Apron combine meal selection and delivery. However, working within parameters of preferences and sales could help spur sales. Key for Pea Pod is to give consumers multiple and continuous reasons to engage with them, and this is a step forward.