Win Back Grocery Spend at Trader Joe's With a Meal-Kit-Inspired Customer Experience

You are a product manager at Trader Joe's, and sales revenue is falling. Using competitors such as the meal-kit service Blue Apron as a reference, design an experience for Trader Joe's customers. ```hint Find the spend that left Ask what a meal-kit customer gets that a grocery trip does not give them, and whether that gap could explain part of the lost revenue. Design to win that spending back in a way that fits how Trader Joe's operates, rather than copying the competitor's model. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Do we know where the drop comes from: fewer shoppers, fewer trips, smaller baskets, or specific categories or regions? - Is the experience limited to the stores, or can it include online ordering, pickup or delivery, which Trader Joe's has historically not offered? - Which part of the meal-kit offer are we responding to: delivery to the door, pre-portioned ingredients, recipes and meal planning, or the subscription? - Is the aim to win back lapsed shoppers, or to grow spending among current ones? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A hypothesis linking the revenue decline to what meal-kit competitors offer, and how to check it before building - A chosen customer segment and its specific pain points around planning, buying and cooking meals - Prioritized solutions that fit Trader Joe's store format and brand, with a clear first release - Success metrics tied to incremental revenue, with guardrails on margin, waste and store operations - The risks and trade-offs of moving toward convenience offerings such as kits, pickup or delivery ### Follow-up Questions - A pilot lifts basket size among shoppers who use it, but total store revenue does not change. What might explain that, and what would you test next? - Would you partner with a delivery platform or build fulfillment in-house, and what would decide it? - How would you tell whether kits pull shoppers away from buying the same ingredients separately?