Personalisation In The Smart Kitchen

In an uncertain time for retail, one thing is certain: a one-size-fits-all approach no longer cuts it when it comes to attracting new customers, fostering loyalty and increasing sales. 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer that recognises them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, or knows their purchase history. Retailers are not alone in understanding the importance of personalisation. Smart appliance manufacturers know that it is vital to the widespread adoption of smart appliances, and many are embracing it as a strategy.

The benefits of personalisation in the smart kitchen are obvious. Home cooks in search of recipe inspiration in cookbooks and online are bombarded with choice. Choosing a recipe that suits everyone's tastes and matches the contents of your fridge can be a tedious task. Personalisation strategies set out to solve this issue by filtering out irrelevant recipes and offering a small, relevant selection.

Data is everything

The biggest stumbling block smart appliance manufacturers face when it comes to implementing personalisation is a lack of data. Where supermarkets have had access to endless amounts of data for long enough to build up a good profile of their customer base, appliance manufacturers are only recently gaining access to the likes and dislikes of their users. This is where shunning demographic data and embracing behavioural data comes into play. Through a process of machine learning, smart appliance manufacturers can now offer a hyper-personalised recipe experience to their users. They know what you want to cook, when you want to cook it and how you like it cooked.

When it comes to recipe personalisation, Yummly's expertise cannot be beaten. Personalising based on ingredient, diet, allergy, nutrition, cuisine, time, taste, and more, Yummly has enabled millions home cooks to find the perfect recipe every time. It's surely this expertise and recipe range that attracted Whirlpool, who acquired Yummly in 2017. The strategy of partnering with content creators makes sense for smart appliance manufacturers as it lifts the burden of sourcing recipe content at scale. A large variety of recipes is vital if smart appliances want to create a truly personalised experience.

Alexa, find me a recipe!

Recipe personalisation is not limited to large appliance companies such as Whirlpool, Bosch and GE Appliances. The surge in interest in voice assistants means that there is a huge opportunity for retailers, brands and standalone recipe apps to offer personalised recipe suggestions hands-free. One such app, Chefling, extracts data from grocery store receipts and offers recipe suggestions based on the available ingredients. This is not the only potential link between grocery retailers and smart kitchen personalisation. The ability to re-order favourite products is already a reality thanks to Whirlpool's Amazon Dash integration with their smart fridge, while shoppable recipes have moved from 'nice to have' to 'need to have' territory. Further personalisation opportunities could include ingredient suggestions based on previous purchases when compiling a shopping list.

Seamless cooking, perfect results

Finally, and moving away from recipe and ingredient suggestions, one of the biggest personalisation opportunities in the smart kitchen, particularly for smaller countertop smart appliances, is the ability to learn your cooking preferences. If you're particular about how tender you like your vegetables or prefer extra crispy chicken skin, your smart appliance could do the work for you by learning your preferences and adjusting the temperature and cooking time accordingly. Smart sous-vide tools such as Joule from ChefSteps allow users to choose, for example, the doneness of their steak for perfect results every time. In a truly connected kitchen, your recipe-enabled appliance, such as your smart fridge or smart screen, would store this information and send it to your smart cooking appliance, such as your stove giving you a truly personalised, seamless cooking experience from start to finish.

Want to know why we recently declared 2018 the year of the recipe? Find out here and get in touch if you want to know more about how our celebrity chef, influencer and white label cookbook recipe content can help keep your customers engaged.

#smarthome #smartappliance #Virtualassistant #cooking #connectedkitchen #personalisation #digitalcontent #smartkitchen