Unilever, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Ben & Jerry’s Among Brands Piloting DTC Delivery
Several consumer goods manufacturers are piloting a new DTC delivery platform that provides fulfillment services from their owned and operated e-commerce stores in as quickly as 15 minutes.
Among the companies are Ben & Jerry’s, Unilever, Mondelēz, Nestlé, The J.M. Smucker Company, Haleon, The Ferrara Candy Company, Tums, and Jif. The latter two leveraged the platform during the Super Bowl, reportedly selling through their allocated inventory in under 60 minutes.
Through the platform, provided by instant commerce company Gopuff, the CPGs launched their own white-labeled DTC sites, from which users could order delivery. These sites can be customized to align with a brand’s messaging and design and tap into first-party data to foster consumer engagement.
- Also read: Solo Stove and Blue Bottle Pilot Retail Media Initiative With Unique Twist on Consumer Data
Orders placed through these sites are routed to local, micro-fulfillment centers, where they are prepared and shipped. Ben & Jerry’s said this helped its company solve the pain point of finding a simple and quick way to get their products to consumers’ doors.
“Nobody wants the responsibility of getting a pint of Ben & Jerry’s from a nearby store to their couch. Not even us. That last mile delivery is complicated!” said Jay Tandan, global head of digital marketing at Ben & Jerry’s, in a statement.
Concluding a six-month trial run with these brands, the platform is now available to all Gopuff users and can integrate into the tech company’s retail media offerings.
The Future of Delivery?
CPGs have long been innovating with varying ways to get their products into consumers’ homes (see Unilever’s Ice Cream Shop robomarts). However, they’ve often been tied down by delivery services that partner with the retailer, not the brand.
Delivery platforms, meanwhile, are extending the capabilities they offer manufacturers, with some intertwining their retail media offerings to connect CPGs with more first-party consumer data.
Instacart, for example, went into physical stores with its AI-powered smart cars offering personalized, real-time advertisements on display screens while shoppers visit stores. General Mills, Del Monte, and Dreyer’s were among the first to test out this approach.
Uber Eats is doing something similar in the restaurant space, but instead doubling down on digital experiences by heading to TikTok to boost discovery. Using a video commerce offering, restaurants partnered with Uber Eats will show up on the FYP of users eligible for local delivery.
