What’s All The Buzz About The Meijer MealBox Widget?
Posted on 8 December 2008 by Patrick FlanaganNo Comments
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Loading ...So I just picked up my latest issue of Internet Retailer and was thumbing through the headline article on the top 100 “hot” retail web sites. Under the Mass Merchants / Department Stores category, Meijer (a recent ShopLocal client) was listed. The part that shocked me was out of all the things Meijer has going on, the one that was specifically focused on exclusively was the MealBox widget program.
I have written about widgets in the past, but never really focused on the MealBox widget specifically. It is a joint effort between a new startup company called Qponix and Meijer. In the background, store locations data and weekly ad specials (so localized in-store circular based content) are being provided by ShopLocal and the widget overall is being wrapped by WidgetBox.
The in store specials portion of the MealBox application with a browse by category of interest style navigation
The MealBox application does have some really useful, grocery specific functionality which includes:
- Find a nearby store location
- Learn what is on sale in your local store and browse by category. On sale items are also linked to applicable recipes where the item on sale is listed as an ingredient
- Print manufacture coupons out
- Discover (and save) recipes ideas by meal types, cuisines, diet types or user defined tags
- Search recipes by ingredient
- Perform meal / menu planning on a visual time line / calendar
- Save and collect all these different type of content to a printable / sharable shopping list
The take-aways that other digital marketers should leave with are:
- Widgets (and gadgets) are not just for geeks. This MealBox application is for Mom’s with kids. You would be surprised how easy and engaging a well put together widget can be
- Create a “brand” or “theme” around your widget efforts. The whole MealBox microsite and branding is very compelling. Stop calling widgets by their real name and come up with a name that makes sense to ordinary people
- Turn to third party “widgetization” providers for that final last step in making a widget portable
- Mash-up different types of data / content to make the widget application as useful and robust as possible. The MealBox widget is pulling together all sorts of content in a way that most people would never know how to tell
- If you are a retailer with stores, don’t just focus on your online initiatives. The store is still the channel in where the majority of revenue is generated. Using in-store specials as a consumer catalyst to create some incentive for a user to drive to your store is a great technique to make the widget actionable
As always, here is a round-up of some of the many reviews and analysis of this widget program to provide a balanced perspective:
- Internet Retailer – Initial Announcement / Coverage
- Mashable
- SmartMoney
- The Grand Rapid Press
- Mobile Marketer
- Wow Zone
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