What happened
Shares of Blue Apron Holdings Inc. (APRN) were moving higher for the second straight day in a row today as they continued to get a boost from yesterday's announcement of the meal-kit provider's partnership with Jet.com. After gaining as much as 27% yesterday and finishing up 12%, the stock tacked on another 6.6% as of 1:25 p.m. EDT.
Image source: Blue Apron.
So what
There was no additional news out on Blue Apron today, but the partnership with Jet.com, a subsidiary of Walmart, was enough to excite investors for a second straight session. Coming a few weeks after Blue Apron said it would sell its meals through Grubhub in New York City, the company is making a similar deal with Jet.com, which will sell Blue Apron meals for same- or next-day delivery in the New York area as part of its new "city grocery experience" offer, wherein it ships groceries directly to customers' doors.
The partnership gives Blue Apron another opportunity to boost sales and find new customers as revenue has declined due to operational errors a year ago and after the company scaled back marketing to avoid incomplete or late orders.
Now what
After Blue Apron shares fell nearly 90% from last year's June IPO, investors are clearly eager for some good news, but the partnership with Jet.com alone is unlikely to directly impact Blue Apron's bottom line as it will only make its meals available in one part of the country. Investors are perhaps hopeful that the relationship with Jet.com could eventually lead to Walmart carrying the meals in its stores, but even that comes with risks as Walmart could strong-arm it on margins or just undercut Blue Apron with its own house brands.
Still, this is only one step as Blue Apron branches out from its traditional subscription-box model, and is a sign that more such partnerships are probably on the way. We should learn more when the company reports third-quarter earnings on Nov. 14.
