Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Peapod Delivering Success Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow




Back in the day when the first ‘Internet God Rush’ was underway Peapod was a start-up company the ilk of Webvan, Cyberslice, Cybermeals, and hundreds of other companies were as well but most of the others did not thrive, evolve or survive.  What did evolve was the growth or the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food.  So how is it that Peapod continued and is doing so well today?  

Peapod was founded in 1989 by brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson.   Peapod succeeded because it has evolved, expanded, and engaged consumers along the way. It has gone from a small, family-run shopping and delivery service in Illinois to America's leading Internet grocer, delivering more than 23 million orders across 24 U.S. markets.

Currently Peapod is wholly owned subsidiary of international food provider Royal Ahold, and works in partnership with Ahold USA supermarket companies Stop & Shop, Giant Food Stores. Engaging customers has created the platform of success Peapod enjoys today. 

Along the way Peapod reached out to consumers in new ways to engage them including where computers cannot go: the subway platform.  Peapod outfitted one of Chicago’s busiest metro stations with a virtual grocery store giving smartphone users on-the-go access to grocery aisles.  It was so successful that they rolled the program out in Philadelphia, and New England as well. 

Unafraid to evolve or of completion Peapod is not letting Amazon steal its market leadership so it rolled out its own Amazon-ish  button-based service that helps customers shop. 

Peapod announced with Walmart that both companies integrated their online grocery services with “the scanning and voice-enabled shopping button, hiku. The service will be available in more than 40 markets in 24 states. Similar to Amazon Dash, hiku allows customers to scan or speak items to a mobile shopping list…

After customers scan or speak items into hiku (a small, metallic button), the resulting shopping list is matched to online availability. Customers then place their orders at Walmart Online Grocery, which requires customers to pick up their purchases made through hiku, or Peapod, which offers pickup and delivery. “

Success does leave clues and Peapod has picked them up along the way.  Peapod continues to evolve and continues to drive top line sales and bottom line profits.  Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participationdifferentiation and individualization?  Interested in learning how? Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
 

No comments:

Post a Comment