MOSCOW, RUSSIA: X5 Group has launched its own food.ru media platform, a news release said.

In addition to featuring entertaining and educational content that focuses on the most popular food-related activities, the platform will enable users to search for recipes, take cooking classes, learn about healthy eating, find the right products and more.

The platform is a useful and convenient resource for all things food related, including recipes, healthy diet advice, the latest and best X5 offers, with a community of people who share culinary interests. The platform will expand customer reach, generate traffic, and increase sales conversion in X5’s core businesses.

Its presence includes the food.ru website, a mobile app of the same name, and social media accounts. These accounts will be based on existing social network groups, blogging websites, and messenger channels that operate under the Bon Appetit brand. They have been acquired by X5 and will also be renamed into food.ru. Through this, X5 will connect with customers at the food purchase planning and product selection stages.

“X5 aims to be present at all stages of the customer journey, which starts long before the customer enters one of our stores and stretches into the online environment. Consumer preferences are increasingly shaped by the media, particularly social networks, food-related sites, blogs, and podcasts. Our own food-related media platform is an important communication channel that connects X5 with our customers at the purchase planning stage,” commented Igor Shekhterman, CEO of X5 Group.

Food.ru will be developed by Nikolay Shestakov, the founder of the Adventum digital marketing agency and a shareholder of YouDo.com and CallToVisit, who heads X5 Media, the internal operator of the media platform. Food.ru will combine a standard website with recipes and social networking elements. For example, registered users will have internal ratings, varied levels of access to educational content, and the chance to earn achievement badges. They will also be able to run their own food blogs, through which they have the opportunity earn revenue.