Retail Channels
25 August 2022
A new Instacart feature lets you shop Lizzo's favorite groceries
Shoppable Carts are among a host of new features designed to inspire – on Instacart and beyond.
Shoppable Carts are among a host of new features designed to inspire – on Instacart and beyond.
On Instacart, you can now order Lizzo’s favorite groceries for delivery.
That's among the capabilities being introduced Thursday as Instacart rolls out a series of new discovery-focused shopping content and experiences on its app. With an eye on inspiring shoppers, Instacart is adding more content and curation. It placing these features front and center for users, while extending the experiences beyond the app itself.
With the launch, Instacart is debuting “The World is Your Cart,” a new creative platform that features Lizzo, the Grammy-award winning musician and entrepreneur. The rollout is coupled with the launch of a new campaign with a film featuring Lizzo and her song “The Sign,” the first track off of her new album “Special.”
As Instacart describes it, “The film starts in an everyday setting with Lizzo at the center, using the Instacart app, and progresses into hyper-real and fantastical scenes in which her world comes to life as she adds items to her digital cart.” A new 30-second feature will debut at the MTV Video Music Awards, as well.
Within the app itself, Instacart is launching a new shopping experience called Carts. Here, pop culture personalities, retailers and creators will be able to curate collections of shoppable content that feature products they love. The idea is to help consumers discover new items.
With the launch, Lizzo is featuring a shoppable cart filled with her favorite vegan treats and products featured in "The World is Your Cart.” Items include Coca-Cola, Oreos, Skittles and Swiffer Dusters. This demonstrates how Instacart can connect in-app experiences with broader campaigns.
“A shoot where I get to sit in a bubble bath and shop all day? Sign me up Instacart! This spot is so dynamic, and people will see me shopping and imagining what each item could lead to, from a desertscape of Takis – which are always in my cart – to a rain shower of cherries," Lizzo said in a statement. "I’m also excited to share my shoppable Cart which includes so many of my favorite things. I hope that my Cart inspires people to get all the stuff they love or maybe even try something different."
Other Carts will be built around themes, including “Self Care Sunday,” “Late Night Noms” and "Date Night."
Instacart is giving this new feature prominent placement. The Carts are surfaced in the Home feed on Instacart’s app, featured in the center of the display. The idea is that customers can be inspired by the items in these Carts, then select them for delivery from nearby locations.
“‘The World is Your Cart’ is a rallying cry that reminds us of the abundant possibilities of each product we add to our Carts and satiates our curiosity by enabling others’ Carts to spark our own creativity,” said Laura Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at Instacart, in a statement. “In addition to capturing these possibilities across our new creative platform, we’re making them a reality by injecting discovery-driven cart-building experiences across the Instacart app – so you can browse, be inspired, and turn that inspiration into reality by getting your items delivered to your door in as fast as an hour.”
Along with Carts, Instacart detailed additional shoppable experiences across the app that are designed to inspire.
More than 5,500 CPG brand partners are sharing storytelling content through Brand Pages, Shoppable Display, and Shoppable Video ad formats.
Building on the release of Shoppable Recipes earlier this year, Instacart is debuting a new feature called Recipe Maker. This allows publishers and bloggers to add shoppable content to their websites. Hearst is using it on food properties including Delish. A developer API and widget will also be made available.
With an eye toward monetization for those who product content included that is featured on Instacart, the company is also rolling out a new affiliate program, called Instacart Tastemakers, that will enable creators, publishers and developers to monetize purchases made through these experiences. Instacart said it plans to roll out more ways for partners to monetize content by leveraging a fuller Shoppable Recipes ecosystem that it is creating for brands and retailers.
Shopping experiences are increasingly blending content, commerce and curation. Instacart’s new experiences show how this fits into grocery shopping. At the same time, it opens up a new way for creators to plug directly into an ecommerce marketplace, and connect it to campaigns happening around the media sphere.
Campbell Soup Company CEO Mark Clouse offered thoughts on messaging amid inflationary shifts in consumer behavior.
After months of elevated inflation and interest rate hikes that have the potential to cool demand, consumers are showing more signs of shifting behavior.
It’s showing up in retail sales data, but there’s also evidence in the observations of the brands responsible for grocery store staples.
The latest example came this week from Campbell Soup Company. CEO Mark Clouse told analysts that the consumer continues to be “resilient” despite continued price increases on food, but found that “consumers are beginning to feel that pressure” as time goes on.
This shows up in the categories they are buying. Overall, Clouse said Campbell sees a shift toward shelf-stable items, and away from more expensive prepared foods.
There is also change in when they make purchases. People are buying more at the beginning of the month. That’s because they are stretching paychecks as long as possible.
These shifts change how the company is communicating with consumers.
Clouse said the changes in behavior are an opportunity to “focus on value within our messaging without necessarily having to chase pricing all the way down.”
“No question that it's important that we protect affordability and that we make that relevant in the categories that we're in," Clouse said. "But I also think there's a lot of ways to frame value in different ways, right?”
A meal cooked with condensed soup may be cheaper than picking up a frozen item or ordering out. Consumers just need a reminder. Even within Campbell’s own portfolio, the company can elevate brands that have more value now, even if they may not always get the limelight.
The open question is whether the shift in behavior will begin to show up in the results of the companies that have raised prices. Campbell’s overall net sales grew 5% for the quarter ended April 30, while gross profit margins held steady around 30%. But the category-level results were more uneven. U.S. soup sales declined 11%, though the company said that was owed to comparisons with the quarter when supply chains reopened a year ago and expressed confidence that the category is seeing a longer-term resurgence as more people cook at home following the pandemic. Snacks, which includes Goldfish and Pepperidge Farm, were up 12% And while net sales increased overall, the amount of products people are buying is declining. Volumes were down 7%.
These are trends happening across the grocery store. Campbell is continuing to compete. It is leading with iconic brands, and a host of different ways to consume them. It is following that up with innovation that makes the products stand out. Then, it is driving home messaging that shows consumers how to fit the products into their lives, and even their tightening spending plans.
Campbell Soup is more than 150 years old, and has seen plenty of difficult economic environments. It is also a different business today, and will continue to evolve. At the end of the day, continued execution is what’s required.
“If it's good food, people are going to buy it, especially if it's a great value,” Clouse said.