Technology of the Week – How the mealbox changes the way we do groceries

The Dutch grocery industry is a very large industry with a yearly revenue of 35.9 billion euros. Consumers will never save money on buying groceries, because they need those convenience goods to stay alive. Over the last few years, retailers already started an online channel to sell their products via mobile or desktop, this leads to an omni-channel environment. However, this grocery industry also attracts disruptive players, who pay more attention to customers and communities, such as HelloFresh and Allerhande Box. They provide customers with an innovative, healthy and trendy way to order groceries and meals online.

HelloFresh provides a variety of meals for groups of different sizes in three different boxes. HelloFresh focuses on fresh and healthy products from passionate and high-quality suppliers. HelloFresh knows exactly what its customer is like by being data driven. The company wants to provide its customers with varied and fast recipes, which make it easy to cook at home without time-consuming grocery shopping. HelloFresh focuses on women aged 30 to 40 years with a busy life, but its customer base is really divers. The promotion of HelloFresh includes discount coupons, promotional teams, commercials and a combination between offline and online marketing.

Allerhande Box delivers a variety of fresh ingredients and recipes for three healthy meals in two different meal boxes to fulfill the requirements of audience groups. Allerhande Box is linked to the largest Dutch grocery store Albert Heijn and focuses on cooking for customers with familiar products. Customers already visit Albert Heijn stores and use the personalized ‘Bonuskaart’, which provides Allerhande Box with a lot of contact moments and data. Through the already-existing Appie app customers can get a lot of relevant and personal information. Allerhande Box targets high-end young couples and families. Customers can order extra groceries alongside their meal box while it gets delivered for free, or pick up at a store. At first, customers omly buy preserved products online and later on they also add fresh products. Research shows that 27% of the Dutch consumers considered to buy a meal box in 2016.

Although the innovative business models are similar, they are aimed at different customers. Allerhande box aims more at the mainstream customer. The HelloFresh box aims for a socially and environmentally responsible target group. That is why HelloFresh also posts background stories on their blog. Therefore, the best business model is dependable on the preferences of an individual customer.

When we analyze the future potential of the innovative business models, we predict that these kinds of concepts will only become more important. This decade can be characterized by volatility and convenience with a focus on health and nutrition. The business models of Allerhande Box and HelloFresh embrace these developments by offering convenience and healthy ingredients at the same time. However, a relatively small audience supports the business models. Customers whom are not in the high-end segment will continue to do groceries traditionally. For this manner, these models will never replace the traditional way of grocery shopping.

Group 18
Merle Stadhouders – 385904
Lester Tersteeg – 376346
Alex Hartevelt – 373697
Quirine Paauwe – 373437

Sources:
Albert Heijn (2016). Allerhande Box. Retrieved from http://www.ah.nl/allerhandebox

Financiële Dagblad (2015). Digitale aankopen per smartphone stijgen ‘explosief’. Retrieved from https://fd.nl/economie-politiek/1130333/digitaal-aankopen-per-smartphone-stijgt-explosief

HelloFresh (2016). Retrieved from https://www.hellofresh.nl/tasty/

Li, T. (2016) ‘Omni-channel’, Information Strategy Session 2, Rotterdam (12 september 2016)