Soom Foods Reaches New Customers and Grows Sales 261% on Instacart

Soom Foods was founded by three sisters in 2013 with the mission to make tahini, or sesame butter, a more popular ingredient in the US. Soom started by supplying restaurants with their tahini made from the highest quality sesame seeds and quickly became the go-to tahini brand. Award-winning chefs became loyal customers, which bolstered the company’s claims as the gold standard in tahini. With their credibility established, Soom Foods launched into retail stores nationwide to provide home cooks with the same premium, silky-smooth Soom Tahini that chefs love.

Strategic Expansion on Instacart

Recognizing the evolving online grocery shopping trends, Soom Foods took a strategic step onto Instacart in May 2021. With a modest beginning and distribution in less than 500 stores, Soom’s vision was clear — to support their retail partners, from mom-and-pop shops to regional chains, by driving product visibility and sales velocity.

“Our journey with Instacart started small and grew into something truly remarkable,” said Julie Ozlek, Marketing Director at Soom Foods. “Today, you can find Soom Tahini in over 3,300 stores nationwide. Instacart has been critical in scaling our in-store retail presence and velocities.”

Soom Foods worked with their Instacart rep to strategize a clear, full-funnel approach to help them reach new to brand (NTB) customers, convert those searching for keywords most relevant to their products, and drive repeat purchases.

Soom Foods grew sales 261% QoQ^* in Q1 of 2024 and had notable success attracting new-to-brand (NTB) customers to their brand. From December 2023 to April 2024, NTB orders accounted for 87.5% of their Instacart sales, while achieving a 3.2x return. Utilizing both shoppable video ads and display ads, Soom was able to capitalize on top of funnel tactics to introduce shoppers to their brand; 97.7% of their shoppable video sales came from NTB customers and 97.1% for their display campaign sales came from those new-to-brand. While top of funnel is important in driving retail awareness, Soom’s main success on Instacart stems from their sponsored product campaigns, which drives the majority of their conversions. 

“While there are tons of brand-building marketing campaigns and shopper marketing tactics a brand can invest in at the store-level, one of the best ways to reach consumers while they’re shopping online is through digital advertising on Instacart,” said Ozlek. “Instacart has been integral to our success at retail, and we know it is for so many brands that don’t have infinite budgets. Advertising on Instacart plays a huge role in our retail marketing strategy to support retailers that use their platform – everything from top of funnel campaigns like shoppable display and video where we’re able to target those who purchased related categories, but have not purchased our products yet – to bottom of funnel like sponsored product ads.”

Looking Ahead

With the upcoming launch of Soom’s newest product line – Snack Bites – in a regional market later this year, Soom is looking forward to what lies ahead for the company. With hopes this launch exceeds expectations, Soom plans to sell their soft and chewy snacks in retail stores nationwide. Wherever they go, expect delicious, nutritious, and versatile tahini-based products from Soom Foods — delivered by Instacart. 

*Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes. QoQ sales growth was Q4 2023 to Q1 2024

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