Walmart and Meredith Corporation Partner To Help Families Answer the Universal Question: ‘What’s for Dinner?’

World’s largest grocer and leading media company unite to bring together the best of first-party data, AI-powered content and shoppable recipes for robust e-commerce experience

BENTONVILLE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the No. 1 U.S. retailer and world’s largest grocer, today announced a cross-platform partnership with Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), the leading multi-platform media company reaching nearly 95% of women in the U.S., to help millions of busy families plan and prepare meals faster and more easily through AI-powered meal planning, shoppable recipes, visual search, chatbots, and more. The partnership pairs Meredith’s expertise in food content, hyper-local consumer insights and proprietary technology platform with Walmart’s wide customer reach, omnichannel presence, deep product assortment, convenient shopping experience and delivery options. This is the latest strategic addition to Walmart’s thriving grocery eCommerce business.

Consumers are craving food and recipe ideas and want cooking inspiration. In fact, Meredith predicts that views of “Meal Plans”-related articles and plans will be up 30% across its sites in 2021 versus last year.

Through these new shoppable ad experiences, customers can meal plan and add recipe ingredients directly to their Walmart online grocery cart for convenient pickup or delivery. The innovative combination of inspiring content and commerce takes the guesswork out of meal planning for busy families, making it easier and faster to discover, plan, prepare and enjoy delicious meals together.

“Finding ways to help our customers live a little better each day is at the heart of everything we do, and that includes helping them shop more quickly and conveniently for affordable, high-quality products,” said Sarah Henry, senior director of content and influencer marketing at Walmart. “We know that customers today are increasingly looking to shop in the moment, both on and off our platforms. We are focused on meeting customers where they are discovering inspirational content and enhance the customer experience. This partnership with Meredith is an innovative way we can seamlessly help our customers while putting much-needed time back in their day.”

“This wide-ranging partnership with Walmart includes first-party data-driven ‘Make It Easy’ and ‘Kid Foodology’ programs, which reimagine the shopping experience with highly personalized content and ad experiences that deliver unparalleled value every step of the way. As children go back to school, parents return to the office and the fall season takes shape, Meredith and Walmart will help families prepare meals they’ll love and get them on the table faster,” said Corbin de Rubertis, senior vice president of Innovation at Meredith.

The partnership features a suite of custom, proprietary tools and content designed to inspire consumers to explore, create and enjoy recipes that meet their needs, including:

• Meredith’s industry-leading content taxonomy and predictive insights, including concept demand curves and consumer decision frameworks, alongside Walmart’s robust API technology, match millions of products with consumers in real-time at scale.

• Visual search technology enables consumers to take photos of ingredients they have on hand and receive meal suggestions that incorporate those ingredients.

• The first-ever shoppable bookazine filled with editor-curated recipes with “Allrecipes 30 Minute Meals.” Available for sale in September exclusively at Walmart stores, the bookazine will provide another opportunity to bring the shoppable experience to life for consumers, increasing awareness and adoption of the shoppable tools and making their daily lives easier.

• A voice-activated experience through Allrecipes Action for Google Assistant. With an Assistant-enabled smart speaker or smart display, like Nest Hub, just say “Hey Google, talk to Allrecipes” and search for a recipe by ingredient, keyword or dish name. Meredith’s natural language processing and machine learning technology give a personalized suggestion for a complete meal solution available at Walmart for pickup & delivery.

• Meredith and Walmart launched a social commerce promotion, in which popular Allrecipes videos become shoppable via Walmart with ads on TikTok. Consumers simply tap the “Shop Now” call-to-action button in the TikTok video to load all of the ingredients into a digital shopping cart on Walmart – and they’re ready for checkout!

Customers will be able to shop for Walmart products across Meredith’s portfolio of trusted, iconic brands, including Allrecipes, Better Homes & Gardens, PARENTS, EatingWell and REAL SIMPLE.

ABOUT WALMART

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, approximately 220 million customers and members visit approximately 10,500 stores and clubs under 48 banners in 24 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2021 revenue of $559 billion, Walmart employs 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at twitter.com/walmart.

ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), a leading media company for nearly 120 years, produces service journalism that engages audiences with essential, inspiring, and trusted content. Meredith reaches consumers where they are across multiple platforms including digital, video, magazine, and broadcast television. Meredith's National Media Group reaches nearly 95 percent of all U.S. women and more than 190 million unduplicated American consumers every month through such iconic brands as PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, Allrecipes, Southern Living, and REAL SIMPLE. Meredith’s premium digital network reaches more than 150 million consumers each month. The Company is the No. 1 U.S. magazine operator with 36 million subscribers and the No. 2 global licensor with robust brand licensing activities that include a Better Homes & Gardens partnership with Walmart. Meredith's Local Media Group portfolio includes 17 television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households and 30 million viewers. Meredith’s portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 markets, including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, and Portland, and 13 stations in the Top 50.