Bimbo Bakeries USA Taps Into Consumer Cravings With DTC Site
Add Bimbo Bakeries USA to the list of consumer goods companies entering the direct-to-consumer space.
The company quietly launched SweetSnacking.com last fall, offering consumers the ability to purchase pre-made boxes from such brands as Entenmann’s, Sara Lee, Thomas’ and Takis. In return for this convenience, the snack company gains access to valuable consumer insights it can leverage for product development.
The brand entered to space chiefly to provide convenience and safety to consumers, Omar Haque, VP of e-commerce at Bimbo Bakeries USA, tells CGT. By offering such incentives as free shipping, Bimbo ensures consumers have access to their products and can avoid traveling to stores during the pandemic, only to find empty shelves.
“Shoppers are spending more time on screens — be it streaming or looking for products — so we thought the timing was right,” he adds.
Consumer goods companies are increasingly exploring or accelerating DTC sales as the pandemic has made fulfilling this demand an ongoing challenge, while the consumer insights culled are simultaneously gaining in value as they inform everything from product development to customer service.
Bimbo Bakeries USA, which is owned by No. 52 consumer goods company Grupo Bimbo, also expects it to have a positive effect on its retail relationships, enabling it to create higher-quality products while keeping the consumer at the center.
Product bundles are curated based on consumer needs, such as movie night and school snacks, and are priced at $29.99 as of this writing. The company also takes into account such factors as the price-pack architecture as well as ease of shipping.
The site launched in less than three months on Shopify, Haque says, which meant Bimbo “had to be in total startup mode and bootstrap a lot of things.”
Bimbo Bakeries USA, which operates more than 60 manufacturing locations and 11,000 distribution routes in the U.S., is leveraging its internal systems for fulfillment and customer service.
