Grocery is a high-frequency, essentials-first vertical shaped by habits, recurring needs, dietary preferences, and budget. Customers reorder the same items weekly or monthly, while also exploring promotions, planning meals, and adding impulse items.
This article shows how to use Smart Recommender in Insider One to support reorders, meal planning, and discovery. It includes an A/B test walkthrough for grocery cross-sells and strategies for each page type.
Before you start: Make sure your product catalog includes the attributes this article filters on, such as Category and Diet (for example, vegan or gluten-free). Create missing custom attributes on the Product Attributes page and mark them as filterable.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Everyday favorites on the homepage
Remind users to restock frequently purchased items, like milk, eggs, or coffee, based on their typical buying cycle.
Meal bundles
Suggest ready-to-buy bundles such as "Taco Tuesday" or "Breakfast Staples" to simplify planning.
Staple cross-sells
Recommend items that go together, such as pasta with sauce, on product pages.
Re-engagement
Show inactive shoppers picks from past purchases, seasonal produce, or current promotions.
Impulse add-ons at checkout
Suggest chocolates, snacks, or drinks on the cart page.
Diet-based personalization
Use Attribute Affinity with diet tags such as vegan, keto, or gluten-free.
Budget-friendly discovery
Highlight discounted products for price-sensitive shoppers.
A/B testing
Test placement, bundle size, and discount messaging.
Walkthrough: Boost AOV with grocery cross-sells
Grocery orders are often part of a weekly routine, so suggesting related items at the right moment raises average order value (AOV).
This walkthrough tests two cross-sell strategies on grocery product detail pages:
Variant A: Recommend fresh produce.
Variant B: Recommend pantry staples.
Step 1: Create the recommendation strategies
Navigate to Recommendation Strategies and click Create. Configure the first strategy as follows:
Select Product Detail Page as the page type.
Select Purchased Together as the algorithm.
Enter the number of products to recommend.
Exclude products purchased in the last four weeks.
Add a filter for the category attribute: Category + is + Fresh Produce.
Create the second strategy with the same settings and change only the category filter:
Category + is + Pantry Staples.
Note: Keep every other setting identical between the two strategies. If more than one setting changes, you cannot tell which change caused the difference in results.
Step 2: Launch the campaign
Navigate to Web Smart Recommender and click Create.
Select the integration method for the widget.
On the Segments step, select customers with a low AOV under Purchasing Behavior and set your threshold.
On the Rules step, use Page Rules to target grocery product detail pages.
On the Design step, assign one strategy to each variant and set the traffic allocation for each variant.
Click Edit Design to open the Advanced Product Card Designer and customize your product cards.
Select the locales and stores where the campaign appears.
Review the campaign details, confirm that every setting matches your goal, and click Launch.
Note: Every attribute you show on a product card must exist in your product catalog. To show more information, create custom attributes on the Product Attributes page.
Step 3: Track campaign metrics
Navigate to Smart Recommender Analytics.
Find your campaign in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table. When the test period ends, click the campaign name.
Compare Direct Revenue, Average Order Value (AOV), and Conversion Rate for the two variants. This shows whether fresh produce or pantry staples raise AOV more for low-spending customers.
If one variant clearly wins, set its traffic allocation to 100% so every visitor sees the better strategy.
After you find a winner, test other pairings, such as dairy or bakery items.
Step 4: Optimize your campaigns
After the campaign has run long enough to collect data, use Smart Recommender Analytics to improve it:
Engagement funnel: Review product impressions, click-through rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate to see where shoppers drop off.
Campaign and variant performance: Compare AOV, Conversion Rate, and Direct Revenue in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table, then refine or scale the winning variant.
Product-level impact: Open Top 100 Product Analytics to see which recommended products perform best. Give extra visibility to strategic products that perform below expectations.
Category trends: Use Category Analytics to find the categories that drive the most conversions, and decide whether to prioritize them or promote weaker ones.
Use cases by page type
Home page
Your everyday favorites
Show returning shoppers the products they are most likely to buy again, based on their behavior.
Create a strategy with the User Based algorithm.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Target returning users on the Segments step.
Note: Recently Viewed and User Based rely on each user's past behavior. Target returning users so these widgets always have data to show.
Fresh picks of the week
Show what is gaining popularity this week, such as seasonal fruit or popular snacks.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Fresh Produce, Snacks.
Target returning users on the Segments step.
Tip: Use dynamic widget titles such as "Trending This Week."
Product detail page
Meal ideas around this item
Recommend items that complete a meal, such as tomato sauce and parmesan next to pasta.
Create a strategy with the Complementary Products algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Sauces, Cheese.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Make the Perfect Pasta Night."
Diet-friendly alternatives
Offer alternatives that match dietary preferences, such as lower-sugar or vegan granola bars.
Create a strategy with the Similar Products algorithm.
Add the filter Diet + is one of + Vegan, Organic, Low Sugar.
If you do not have a Diet attribute, create it on the Product Attributes page.
Category page
Best deals in this category
Show the most discounted items in the category the shopper is browsing, such as snacks.
Create a strategy with the Highest Discounted algorithm.
Add the filter Category + matches + the category they're currently viewing.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Tip: Add discount badges to product cards.
Top sellers in this category
Show what other shoppers buy most in the same category, such as breakfast cereals.
Create a strategy with the Top Sellers algorithm.
Add the filter Category + contains + the category they're currently viewing.
If your categories are hierarchical, select the Expand the category filter to include recommendations from the next category if there aren't enough products to display checkbox, so the widget still fills when the current category has few products.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Cart page
Daily essentials
Make sure shoppers do not forget everyday staples such as coffee, bread, and milk.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Coffee, Bread, Dairy, Snacks.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Reach free delivery
Show items that help shoppers reach your free delivery threshold.
Create a strategy with the Checkout Recommendation algorithm and set the spend threshold (for example, 75 USD).
No filters are required. Attribute Affinity is optional.
Tip: Use copy such as "Add 10 USD more for free delivery." If you do not offer free delivery, use Purchased Together instead.