Dive Brief:

• Hidden Valley Ranch is the first advertising partner for Allrecipes.com's AmazonFresh integration that allows users to purchase ingredients and have them delivered in the same day in certain markets, per a press release by Meredith Corporation, which owns Allrecipes.com. 
• When a recipe calls for bottled ranch dressing or a dry dip mix, recommended Hidden Valley Ranch products will automatically be added to a user's AmazonFresh shopping cart and delivered in time to prepare dinner that evening. The campaign also incorporates Meredith's shopper marketing solutions, including meal planner cards, rich media ads, geotargeted offers and "May We Suggest" recipe integrations that promote Hidden Valley Ranch products as a complement to Allrecipes' popular pizza recipes. 
• The launch of the campaign coincided with National Ranch Day on March 10. Meredith announced the partnership between in Allrecipes.com, which has 80 million users, and AmazonFresh last fall to allow home cooks to purchase recipe ingredients, including fresh meat, vegetables, fruits and frozen and packaged goods, for same-day delivery. 

Dive Insight:

Hidden Valley Ranch's partnership with Allrecipes and AmazonFresh demonstrates how CPG brands are starting to think differently about reaching shoppers as more plan meals, browse recipes and buy ingredients online. E-commerce is expected to account for more than 90% of CPG sales growth over the next three years, according to Nielsen data included in the Meredith press release. Joining forces with Allrecipes is a smart move for Hidden Valley, as consumers that browse the recipe site are 33% more likely to use online grocery services.

Online grocery shopping is projected to grow 5x over the next 10 years, with consumers spending as much as $100 billion on food at home by 2025, according to a report from the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen reported by CNBC. While several major grocery chains, including Walmart and Kroger, offer online ordering and in-store pickup, online grocery delivery is expected to grab a larger portion of the market share. About 25% of U.S. households already buy some groceries online, an increase from 19% in 2014, per Nielsen. Among those who buy groceries online, 60% predict that they will spend about 25% of their food budgets online in 10 years.

Millennials are largely driving the increase in online food shopping. Most cite convenience as a key factor in their food shopping habits, according to The Washington Post. Younger consumers are also embracing meal kits and online ordering. As grocery shopping shifts online, marketers of food and beverage brands need to beef up their e-commerce strategies to reach these consumers and stay ahead of the competition, especially Amazon, which dominates the online grocery market. The tech giant sold $2 billion in grocery products online last year, a 59% increase year-over-year, according to statistics from One Click Retail cited in Business Insider. The company also recently acquired Whole Foods, which will strengthen its position as an online grocery competitor.