How Grocers Are Using Shoppable Recipes To Boost Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on peoples' lives around the globe, but one area that changed, in particular, has been our relationship with food. Who can forget when social media was making sourdough bread en masse? Another trend was a surge in home cooking after restaurants were closed due to lockdowns (via Specialty Food Magazine). In parallel, there was a massive increase in people watching videos about foods and drinks in 2020, with the popularity of cooking videos on YouTube doubling, per The Verge.

Another rising trend was that of online grocery delivery via services such as Instacart. According to Forbes, online grocery shopping sales have doubled over the last two years as consumers embrace the convenience of ordering through their mobile devices over driving to the store. But as lockdowns ease and consumers are able to dine out more, grocers are coming up with some creative ways to keep cooks at home and shopping with them.

In many ways, increased interest in food-related content and the desire to shop from home is the perfect blend. Enter the creation of shoppable recipes. In the case of Instacart, which partnered with Tasty, it's a literal blend. Links from Tasty's TikTok videos will take users straight to Instacart to find the written recipe and allow them to order the ingredients on their device (via Modern Retail). However, Instacart isn't the only online retailer utilizing this method. Modern Retail also notes that Weee, an Asian and Hispanic grocery delivery service, is allowing app users to post their own recipes and buy ingredients directly through the app in one click.

More companies are starting to innovate in this new space. The service Quicklly allows its users to post their own recipes, but it's taking it a step further, giving its creators the opportunity to get paid when another user buys groceries from their list (via Grocery Dive). Though more people are making their way back to restaurants, retailers are betting that shoppable recipes can entice at-home chefs into their virtual kitchens.