The news: Ahold Delhaize USA and Target are taking two different paths to influencing the moment a consumer’s meal idea first forms, rather than waiting for shoppers to search for a product.

Ahold Delhaize USA partnered with Pear Commerce to let shoppers across its five banners—Food Lion, Giant, Giant Food, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop—add ingredients to their carts directly from recipes on consumer packaged goods (CPG) partner websites, brand pages, and store locators, per Chain Store Age. The integration is designed to tie the retailer’s AD Retail Media network more directly to shopping actions.

Target, meanwhile, is launching its first Good & Gather cookbook with 100 recipes whose ingredients are all available at Target, part of its effort to strengthen its positioning as a “craveable food discovery destination.”

Implications for retailers: Both retailers are using recipes to shape product discovery—and, in Ahold Delhaize’s case, directly link it to retail media—in a market where consumers are focusing more on value.

While their approaches differ, both aim to connect editorial content more directly to sales. Target’s cookbook positions its owned brand as a content franchise, while Ahold Delhaize’s shoppable recipes turn offsite inspiration into immediate conversion.

The key difference is measurability. Ahold Delhaize creates a clear path from inspiration to purchase, while Target’s content-led strategy builds brand influence but delivers a more diffuse, harder-to-quantify impact.

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