APRN - Does Blue Apron Really Need Its Own Credit Card?
You don't have to take charge exclusively in the kitchen if you're a fan of Blue Apron Holdings (NYSE: APRN) . You will soon be able to charge anywhere you can if you apply for the new Blue Apron credit card. The pioneer of home-delivered gourmet meal kits announced a partnership with Aspiration to roll out the Blue Apron Aspiration Zero Card, a co-branded credit card issued through Mastercard .
Why would Blue Apron think that this is a good idea? This is an industry with historically high churn rates, as patrons either tire of piecing together their meals with premium-priced meal kits or take advantage of aggressive promotions from rival services to go from platform to platform. Aren't there going to be a lot of these credit cards collecting dust in the sock drawer after customers move on from Blue Apron?
There's also the eco-friendly angle here. Aspiration promises to plant a tree with every qualifying Blue Apron purchase on the card. It's a noble thought, but I'm guessing folks willing to have a company ship weekly edibles in climate-controlled packaging aren't exactly making saving the environment a high priority. It's certainly true that Blue Apron expects to be carbon neutral in its operations by March of next year, but beating the green drum sounds odd for a meal-kit provider.
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Does Blue Apron Really Need Its Own Credit Card?