Dive Brief:
- Snyder's-Lance is debuting Snack Shack, an online snack store for consumers and businesses that enables them to purchase Snyder's-Lance products they can't find through traditional distribution channels.
- Distribution to retail can be limited depending on a business' or consumer's location, so opening up an e-commerce channel helps Snyder's-Lance reach new markets and have its products delivered to their doorstep.
- The company is selling all its snack brands through Snack Shack with a $25 minimum sale for each order. Snack Shack also has its own rewards program where customers can earn points for future discounts by placing orders, referring other potential customers, and sharing the website on Facebook and Twitter.
Dive Insight:
E-commerce for food and beverage manufacturers is an increasingly popular avenue for reaching consumers. Food and beverage e-commerce sales are projected to hit $12 billion by 2018. Other industries have been quicker to integrate e-commerce into their operations and interactions with consumers, but food and beverage companies are catching on.
In the last few months, a number of major manufacturers have announced plans to expand their e-commerce efforts, such as General Mills, Mondelez (including its Oreo Colorfilled promotion, which has resulted in double to triple the industry standard for online conversion rates), Anheuser-Busch InBev's Bud Light (with the Bud-E Fridge), and PepsiCo.
"I think in the near future it'll be mission critical," Matt Pierre, General Mills' director of e-commerce, told Food Dive toward the end of last year.