How to Easily Implement Shoppable Recipes on Your Blog

Nine out of ten U.S. shoppers look to online recipes for meal inspiration, according to Chicory’s Annual Digital Recipe Usage Survey. Yet there’s often a disconnect between finding a delicious recipe and getting the ingredients to make it. Thankfully, there is a feature that can help with that: Shoppable recipes.

When you add this functionality to your food blog, you create a complete experience for your audience – from discovery to dinner table. Instead of forcing readers to manually copy ingredients to a shopping list or app, you can offer them a direct path to purchase everything they need. This is very convenient for many people, including those with disabilities, busy parents, or just those used to shopping online. 

Food bloggers who haven’t implemented shoppable recipes are missing a valuable opportunity to both serve their audience better and earn additional income through affiliate partnerships.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to easily add shoppable recipes to your WordPress site using WP Recipe Maker‘s template editor. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to transform your recipes into interactive, income-generating content that keeps readers coming back.

The power of shoppable recipes: Benefits for bloggers and readers

Online grocery shopping has exploded in popularity over the past few years. According to Capital One Shopping research, U.S. online grocery sales surged by 131% during the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth shows no signs of slowing down, with projections indicating a continued annual growth rate of 20.8%. By the end of 2024, nationwide online grocery sales are expected to reach an astonishing $257.5 billion.

WP Recipe Maker is a user-friendly WordPress plugin that allows food bloggers to capitalize on this trend by integrating shoppable functionality directly into their WordPress sites. It partners with services like Instacart, Walmart, and other grocery delivery platforms, transforming your recipes from simple instructions into dynamic shopping lists.

The benefits for both food bloggers and their readers are substantial:

• When visitors can easily purchase ingredients, your site becomes a complete meal-planning tool they’ll return to again and again.
• Interactive elements like “Add to Cart” buttons encourage readers to spend more time on your site and interact more deeply with your content.
• Well-implemented shopping features enhance rather than disrupt the reading experience, making your site more user-friendly.
• Shoppable recipes open up new monetization opportunities beyond traditional display ads and sponsored content, helping diversify your revenue sources.
• When readers can easily buy multiple recipe ingredients at once, your average order values typically increase. For example, a shoppable recipe campaign for a popular breakfast brand enabled visitors to add ingredients for multiple recipes to their online shopping baskets, resulting in a 234% increase in products per basket.

“Adding shoppable recipe functionality to your WordPress site positions you at the cutting edge of food content. Readers increasingly expect convenience, and bloggers who meet this need not only serve their audience better but also open up significant new revenue opportunities. It’s a win-win that transforms how people interact with recipe content.”

Birthe Vandermeeren

Cofounder of Bootstrapped Ventures

• WordPress
• Instagram
• Mail

Easily implement shoppable recipes with WP Recipe Maker 

WP Recipe Maker is the most popular recipe plugin for WordPress, helping thousands of food bloggers present their recipes in a beautiful, functional format. Its template editor lets you customize recipe cards to match your site’s design while making ingredients shoppable.

The plugin also makes it simple to add affiliate links to ingredients and equipment, creating monetization opportunities that improve the user experience rather than disrupting it. 

These features work together to increase reader engagement while opening new income streams for your food blog.

Simple: Quick access shopping list

WP Recipe Maker’s Quick Access Shopping List feature makes grocery planning effortless for your readers. Here’s how it works:

1. Create a dedicated shopping list page on your WordPress site using the Shopping List block or shortcode. 

2. Set this page as your shopping list destination in the plugin settings.

3. Use the Template Editor to add an “Add to Shopping List” button to your recipe cards. This button allows readers to add recipe ingredients to their shopping list with a single click.

When readers click this button, the plugin automatically generates a clean, organized list that breaks down all ingredients by amount. The recipe scaling feature even adjusts quantities automatically if readers change serving sizes.

By eliminating this common friction point, you improve the user experience and make your recipes more valuable. Readers can simply browse your recipes, add favorites to their list, and head to the store with everything organized.

Advanced: Adding shoppable recipes to your food blog

WP Recipe Maker takes shopping functionality to the next level by integrating with major grocery services. You can add shoppable recipes using Instacart, Walmart, Chicory, and SmartWithFood (Belgium only, currently in beta). These integrations allow your readers to purchase ingredients directly from your recipe posts.

Instacart stands out as the most powerful option, thanks to recent upgrades. It offers improved ingredient-to-product matching for more accurate shopping suggestions and now works on membership-only sites where recipes aren’t publicly accessible. This means your members can shop any recipe, even when it’s dynamically loaded through the Recipe Collections feature.

Here’s how to set up Instacart integration:

1. Go to WP Recipe Maker > Settings > Integrations > Shop with Instacart.
2. Enable the “Automatically add Instacart Button” option.
3. Save your settings.

The Instacart button will now appear next to ingredient lists throughout your site. 

For more control over button placement, you can disable the automatic option and instead use the Template Editor to manually add the “Recipe Shop Instacart” button exactly where you want it.

Once set up, your visitors can click the button to have ingredients delivered from their choice of over 750 grocery retailers across 70,000+ locations.

For the best user experience, customize your recipe card using the template editor to make ingredients more prominently shoppable. Consider placing shopping buttons near the top of the recipe or directly beside ingredient lists for maximum visibility.

The nutrition label feature complements shoppable recipes by providing comprehensive nutritional information that may influence shopping decisions. You can also use recipe scaling in conjunction with affiliate links, ensuring accurate product quantities are suggested when readers adjust serving sizes.

One of Instacart’s most powerful features is the ‘Shop this Shopping List’ option, which lets users generate a complete shopping list through the recipe collections feature, make adjustments, and then purchase everything through Instacart with a single click.

Monetize your recipes with Instacart Tastemakers

Instacart Tastemakers program is an affiliate program that lets you earn money whenever your readers use your shoppable recipe links to purchase ingredients.

Joining is straightforward – simply sign up at instacart.com/tastemakers and connect your WP Recipe Maker-powered site. Once approved, you’ll receive a unique affiliate ID that tracks purchases made through your recipe links.

The program pays a 3% commission on qualifying purchases made via your shoppable recipes or lists. This passive income stream works alongside other affiliate opportunities in your recipes, helping diversify your blog’s revenue sources.

What makes this method effective is that it enhances the user experience rather than disrupting it. Your readers get the convenience of one-click grocery ordering while you earn commissions on purchases they were already planning to make. It’s a win-win that adds value to your content without feeling like advertising.

And with Instacart’s wide network of over 750 retailers, your readers can shop from their preferred stores while you earn from every purchase.

Boost your blog’s income: Transform your recipes into shoppable content today

Ready to turn your recipes into an income stream? Here’s your action plan:

1. Use WP Recipe Maker’s template editor to optimize your recipe cards. 
2. Strategically place shopping buttons where they’ll get noticed, such as near ingredient lists or at the top of recipes. 
3. Take advantage of the customization options to make these elements visually appealing and on-brand.
4. Integrate with Instacart to provide your readers with seamless shopping. This single integration gives them access to thousands of stores while giving you a commission on purchases.
5. Leverage WPRM’s built-in SEO features. Properly structured recipe data helps your content rank higher in search results, bringing more traffic to your shoppable recipes.

WP Recipe Maker’s flexible approach makes it perfect for food bloggers at any level. Whether you’re just starting out or managing hundreds of recipes, its robust features help you capitalize on the growing trend of shoppable content.

Start exploring WPRM today and transform your recipes from simple instructions into interactive, income-generating assets.

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