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).
InnerPlant CEO Shely Aronov reveals how engineered crops like soybeans and corn emit signals when stressed—offering farmers early warnings to boost yields.
Payoneer CEO John Caplan discusses the implications of $100K H1B visa requirements—and how they could reshape tech talent, hiring, and U.S. competitiveness.
Electronic Arts, the video game maker of “Madden NFL,” “The Sims,” and other popular titles, is being acquired and taken private for about $52.5 billion in what could become the largest-ever buyout funded by private-equity firms.
Merriam-Webster has fully revised its popular “Collegiate” dictionary with over 5,000 new words. They include “petrichor,” “dumbphone” and “ghost kitchen.” Also “cold brew,” “rizz,” “dad bod,” “hard pass,” “cancel culture” and more.
