Dive Brief:
- Mondelez has been betting on e-commerce on what global head of e-commerce Cindy Chen calls a "fearless business model," including the company's recent effort, the Oreo Colorfilled site.
- So far the marketing attempt has been popular, and the brand quickly teamed up with daily deals site Zulily, which offered free shipping for the online Oreo store, where consumers can personalize their Oreo packaging online or order a black-and-white package with markers.
- The Oreo Colorfilled shop had seen conversion rates that were double to triple the online industry standard, and online basket sizes were "a few times more" than in-store baskets — even before working with Zulily, Chen told Ad Age.
Dive Insight:
Chen told Ad Age that planning and executing a project like this, a direct-to-consumer shop offering product customization, could normally take two years, but the Oreo Colorfilled shop only took two months to put together. The Zulily collaboration was confirmed within just a few days after a conversation with Exact Media.
Oreo was Zulily's first exclusive, direct partnership with a cookie brand. In 2013, the daily deals site partnered with Plum Organics, one of Zulilly's first food and beverage tie-ins. Since, Zulily also featured a Coca-Cola Share A Coke Sweepstakes.
Oreo ad spending increased to $22.7 million in the first nine months of 2015 from about $23 million in the same 2014 timeframe, according Kantar Media.
Matt Pierre, General Mills' director of e-commerce, recently told Food Dive that e-commerce would be "mission critical" for the food industry in the near future.