Blue Apron To Sell Kits in Grocery Stores as Meal Kit Market Heats Up
NEW YORK, NY - Big name contenders have recently stepped into the meal kit ring, causing one of the oldest names in the market to devise a new strategy to stay in the game. Blue Apron is now rethinking its subscription-only model, trading it in for a model tried and true: selling its prepared dinners via good ol’ fashion retail.
“The access to consumers is much broader in this avenue than the avenue we’ve been operating in in the past,” said Chief Executive Brad Dickerson, who believes the company can increase its sales overall by adding in-store options to its online exclusives, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.
Louise Ward, Senior Manager, Communications for the brand, confirmed Blue Apron is currently in “active conversations with a variety of retailers” in order to put its meal kits on store shelves by the end of 2018, according to a report by Fortune.
While the price for the retail-ready meal kits has yet to be settled, the news has already bolstered the company’s share price by seven percent–one of the highest percentage gains since the company went public last year.
In the last couple of weeks, Weight Watchers and Walmart became major meal kit competitors after announcing new lines of meal kits also set to hit stores this year–something Dickerson alluded to with: “Of course we’d say our food is better. We’ve been doing this longer than anyone else has. That means a lot to the consumer.”
Will Blue Apron’s new brick-and-mortar strategy help it retain consumers and bolster sales? AndNowUKnow will continue to report as the meal kit market stays sizzling.
