Meijer, Pinterest inspire shoppers for the holidays

Offering its shoppers some digital engagement for the holidays, Meijer and Pinterest have collaborated on a digital advent calendar with items and a personalized recipe board to create holiday dishes.

The “12 Days of Meijer Gifting” program runs Dec. 7-18, each day revealing a range of hot items sold at the retailer as gift ideas. Day one was an assortment of beauty items, all national brands, while the second day was a range of toys. The interactive calendar enables shoppers to click on the day to unlock a page with gift ideas that can be pinned to a user’s Pinterest account or they can click to buy it on Meijer online.

This digital calendar is similar to a 24-day advent calendar that Tops Friendly Markets is doing and it features some of its store brand food and beverages for the season. 

“The events of this year have given customers a new perspective on gifting,” said Amanda McVay, group vice president of customer strategy and marketing, Meijer. “Shoppers are looking for ways to stay close with loved ones from afar — even if afar only means in a different household a few streets down — and thoughtful gifts are proving to be the solution. We are pleased to partner with Pinterest to offer our customers digital shopping solutions and gifting inspiration through this fun, interactive tool.”

Also with Pinterest, Meijer developed a short quiz to help curate recipe ideas for holiday cooking. The quiz asks questions such as what type of meal to make like an entree, sides, desserts or drinks. It asks how much time can be spent on cooking and level of cooking experience from beginner to chef-level. Then a board of meal ideas are curated with beautiful images of the dishes. There’s info about the recipes as well as a link to the recipe at Meijer.com with more information on ingredients and cooking instructions.

Early in the year, Store Brands featured how retailers leverage Pinterest as a way to promote meal ideas and more while promoting its private brands.