Today in Food Commerce: Sweetgreen Launches Subscription; Foodpanda Leaving Japan

Today in food commerce, Sweetgreen launches a daily credit subscription pass, while Foodpanda calls it quits in Japan. Plus, online grocers remove key pain points to grow their audiences.

Vejii Closes $6.25M Deal for B2B Plant-Based Wholesaler VEDGEco

Digital vegan marketplace Vejii is acquiring B2B plant-based wholesaler VEDGEco for $6.25 million in a share purchase agreement, a move that will help Vejii grow its distribution network, Vegconomist reported. Among the first digital wholesale platforms committed to plant-based products, VEDGEco strives to reach small businesses that want to sell the products but can’t handle the big minimum order requirements that many distributors demand, according to the report.

Foodpanda Leaving Japan Amid Increased Competition

German food delivery group Delivery Hero — which is perhaps best known for its Foodpanda brand in Asia — announced it was pulling out of the region because of increasing competition and a lack of drivers to fulfill customer orders, according to a Financial Times report Sunday (Jan. 2).

Sweetgreen Launches ‘Sweetpass’ as Restaurants Leverage Subscriptions to Build Loyalty

The subscription model is taking hold in the restaurant industry. Following on the heels of coffeehouse chains’ coffee subscriptions, Olive Garden’s 2018 Never Ending Pasta Pass, and Taco Bell’s Taco Lover’s Pass, fast casual chain sweetgreen announced Monday (Jan. 3) the launch of its own subscription pilot, sweetpass.

5 Digital Developments Transforming Food Commerce

In 2021, restaurants and grocery stores took the digital developments that had gotten underway the previous year to the next level, increasingly bringing the food commerce experience into the eCommerce sphere. Now, with coronavirus case numbers at an all-time high, these businesses have an opportunity to do what they did in the early months of 2020, leveraging stay-at-home trends to accelerate consumer adoption and drive long-term habit changes.

Online Grocers Drive Adoption with Dramatically Improved UX

Grocers are no longer the dinosaurs of retail. The early months of the pandemic found consumers, so used to the intuitive user experiences offered by eCommerce giants such as Amazon, frustrated by leading grocers. With online shops that were difficult to navigate and in-store pickers’ substitutions so inaccurate as to often venture into the absurd, grocers often alienated their would-be digital customers. Now that the industry has had time to adjust to the omnichannel new normal, however, the experience has improved dramatically, and shoppers are taking note.

Grocers Leverage Contextual Commerce to Expand Purchasing Opportunities

As grocers see the benefits of removing key friction points from their eCommerce channels, many are now seeking out ways to integrate commerce opportunities into consumers’ other digital routines.