Fresh Express refreshes recipe-oriented e-commerce site
Fresh Express is enhancing the navigation and accessibility of its website.
The provider of value-added salads is launching a newly refreshed website, organized around more than 320 recipes and more than 100 varieties of salads and salad kits. The new website’s design is now consistent with a packaging refresh rolled out in 2021.
New and updated website features include a refreshed Crave Tool. This online solution helps consumers find recipes using online surveys that determine their individual flavor and type of meal they want to eat. The site also provides practical product categories and recipes, with enhanced navigation and search functionality.
Other new features include defined sub-categories for additional offerings, such as organic products, as well as seasonal content and recipes. The site is mobile-optimized to help ensure a seamless experience across devices.
Planned website updates in the near future included a resource for Fresh Express sustainability information and other company initiatives, and a blog with exclusive content from the brand's team of expert chefs and how-to videos.
Omnichannel recipe planning apps and services are becoming more common in the grocery vertical and beyond. For example, meal kit delivery service Blue Apron recently began allowing customers with Amazon Echo Show voice devices to order select meal kits, with no subscription required. In addition, the company is making recipes available via the Amazon Alexa voice device.
As a result, customers can prepare their Blue Apron two-serving and four-serving recipes with hands-free instructions on Alexa-enabled devices. The cook-along feature on Alexa-enabled devices allows customers to follow step-by-step recipe instruction prompts, with the option to set the pace.
Meanwhile, home goods retailer Williams Sonoma recently introduced a new recipe app, which provides access to thousands of the retailer’s recipes and instructional videos developed and tested in the Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen. App functionality also enables users to browse recipes curated around a specific cuisine, season, ingredient, holiday, or kitchen appliance. A cooking classes section in the app provides recipe guides and videos to teach users cooking techniques or tips for working with various ingredients.
Albertsons and Walmart have also recently launched digital recipe planning services. Albertsons entering a new multi-year agreement with Pinterest to enable its customers to discover and shop food items via the visually-oriented social platform.
And Walmart is teaming up with multi-platform media company Meredith Corp. to turn meal planning into a shoppable e-commerce experience. Through the partnership, Walmart is offering online grocery customers artificial intelligence (AI)-based services such as meal planning, shoppable recipes, visual search, and chatbots.
"First impressions are everything – even those made online – so it was time to update our site with a clean and contemporary design that better reflects the Fresh Express brand and the needs of today's consumer," said Robin Bell, marketing manager at Fresh Express. "The new website does a fantastic job educating consumers on our products and simple ways they can add convenience and flavor to their at-home meals, and the Crave Tool will help them crush their cravings in just three easy steps."