Blue Apron stock has lost nearly 80 percent of its value since going public. And Inc. reporter Zoe Henry told Cheddar that, if the meal-kit company wants to compete in an increasingly crowded space, it has to funnel more money into its marketing strategy and serve more niche audiences. “Maybe they need to be offering different types of meals. Maybe vegan, maybe vegetarian, or sourced-locally,” she said Friday. “They need to do a little bit more of what the Sun Baskets of the world are doing.” Shares of Blue Apron rebounded slightly Friday, after news Weight Watchers is entering the space sent them plunging more than 16 percent a day earlier. And that’s just the latest blow. If the myriad of pure-play companies in field -- from Sun Basket to HelloFresh to Purple Carrot -- weren’t enough, earlier in the week even Walmart announced plans to offer meal-prep kits. Competition from lower-priced rivals like that could be a real problem for the company. “New York and San Francisco yuppies could only take you so far, so we’re going to need to expand beyond the upper middle class millennial market,” she said. “Try telling a mom of four in Barlow, Ohio, that she needs to spend however much a month on Blue Apron, when she could just run to Walgreens or the dollar store and buy cheaper products for dinner that night.” For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/blue-apron-stock-hits-record-low-with-weight-watchers-announcement).
