Hook shoppers with your very own version of the Food Network—conventional retailers are already doing it! If your store already hosts cooking classes, why not shoot a little video and upload it to your Web site? Wegmans and Hy-Vee have posted videos of recipes and cooking techniques, from simple grilled onions to coq au rouge.
While you’re at it, why not tie in one of your weekly specials? Take your heap of juicy sweet corn, for example. Film a short clip of your deli manager preparing an ear for the grill, and post it on your Web site with a recipe for an herb-laced rub and a banner announcing your current special on corn. Make sure to post signs in your produce department advertising your online offerings, so shoppers know they’ll have plenty of ideas for the produce they put in their carts.
The closet Food-Network addicts on the NFM staff are waiting to see natural and organic cooking videos online, so if you’ve got cooking videos on your Web site, please share them with us.