Grocers Can Help Inflation-Weary Shoppers With Better Meal Planning

As shoppers continue to feel the pressure of rising food prices, Innit­  has introduced an online tool that grocers can incorporate to help customers save money on weekly meals. The provider of personalized food technology uses price-saving algorithms in its new Smart Meal Plans, enabling shoppers to select meals with more affordable ingredients added automatically to their digital carts from retailer websites, apps and Google home devices.

Innit Smart Meal Plans are available through Innit's partnership with Google Cloud, together with Google Cloud's Product Discovery solutions like Retail Search and Recommendations AI. Retailers and brands can easily add new capabilities through Google Cloud Marketplace and access services that are seamlessly integrated with Google Cloud.

The Smart Meal Plans solution automatically compares products on multiple aspects, including price, nutrition and popularity. This allows shoppers to easily discover the best-value products for their budget and meal needs, and add the items to their cart with a single click. The online tool integrates with Google Cloud's Recommendations AI solution, which uses machine learning to help retailers deliver personalized recommendations that suit customers' unique tastes and preferences. 

"For families struggling with inflation, putting healthy meals on the table has gotten increasingly stressful," said Kevin Brown, CEO and co-founder of Silicon Valley, Calif.-based Innit. "Innit and Google Cloud are helping grocery retailers address this challenge for shoppers, with Smart Meal Plans that automatically suggest more affordable ingredients for every dish, personalized to their preferences."

FMI – The Food Industry Association recently issued the fourth installment of FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2022, “Future Outlook,” which uncovers opportunities for grocers as solution providers. The analysis found that consumers are still cooking at home more than ever before, but enthusiasm for doing so has waned to pre-pandemic levels. Tools like Innit's Smart Meal Plans help these consumers look for meal inspirations and solutions to address tightening budgets.

Smart Meal Plans also support shoppers making smarter choices to reduce food waste costs. Shoppable Recipes automatically select products in the right quantities to match the number of servings desired, and quantities of a given ingredient can be aggregated across meals to save with bulk-priced items. Innit also enables a recipe-builder function to support "cooking with what you have" and purchase only the missing ingredients. Shoppers always have the opportunity to swap in favorite brands or drop ingredients from a meal.

"Google Cloud is committed to creating useful technologies that help people live better every day," said Paul Tepfenhart, director, global grocery solutions at Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Cloud. "We're pleased that with the Innit solution powered by Google Cloud, shoppers will have access to the technologies they need to save money on groceries and eat better."