Oreo Makes Online Retail Splash
Mondelez International Inc., trying to adapt as more shoppers buy food outside of traditional grocery stores, is diving deeper into online retail with the launch of a holiday-season website that's selling tins of Oreos directly to consumers. The 2016 holiday website, which sells Oreo tins for $19.99, lets customers send cookies to friends using only a mobile phone number or email address. The technology Mondelez has developed for the Oreo holiday test could be used profitably in other regions for similar limited-time offers.
Total Retail's Take: Despite the fact that big food companies have had mixed results selling products directly in recent years, Mondelez is jumping in head first. The Oreo cookie tins, for example, are just one part of Mondelez's online strategy: It launched its holiday website in the U.S. in 2015; launched a successful direct-to-consumer test in China with Alibaba earlier this year where Chinese consumers could purchase Oreo Colorfilled, the popular cookies sold in customer-designed packaging on Tmall; and over the past 18 months has built a 60-person e-commerce team that includes Amazon.com veterans. This year's holiday Oreo website, however, also marks the first time Mondelez will directly handle the supply chain and shipping logistics, without going through a store or online retailer.
