McCormick & Company has spent more than a century earning trust with home cooks, chefs, and brands around the world. As consumer expectations evolve, even iconic companies must rethink how their digital experiences work, creating more streamlined journeys that let customers and partners purchase anytime, anywhere, without losing what makes the brand timeless.

As part of Barrel’s ongoing partnership with McCormick, we identified and pitched new growth opportunities, including a Zest integration. Gifting has long been a focus for the brand, especially online where customers can purchase curated bundles like finishing sugar packs, holiday baking kits, and grilling sets that aren’t available in stores. While McCormick had supported gifting internally in more manual ways, this approach introduced a more streamlined experience for both customers and internal teams. At the same time, Zest was redefining what corporate and consumer gifting could look like in a digital-first world. Bringing these two together created an opportunity to unlock a new channel that felt both modern and authentic to the McCormick brand.

The ecommerce ecosystem is crowded with tools promising quick wins, but only a small number truly fit a brand’s scale, audience, and operational reality. In evaluating gifting solutions, the goal was not novelty for novelty’s sake, but a platform that could enhance the customer experience, integrate cleanly into McCormick’s existing ecosystem, and support long-term brand value.

Zest stood out as a natural fit. Its approach to gifting aligns with how consumers actually want to send and receive products today: flexible, digital, and easy to personalize. Together, Barrel and Zest collaborated closely to bring gifting into McCormick’s Shopify experience in a way that felt seamless rather than bolted on. The result was a new pathway for customers to discover McCormick products through thoughtful gifting moments, while giving the brand a scalable foundation for future programs.

What made this partnership work was a shared perspective on expanding McCormick’s digital ecosystem without disrupting core commerce. Barrel brought a deep understanding of the customer journey and platform architecture, while Zest contributed category expertise in gifting and fulfillment.

“McCormick brands check all the boxes for what makes a great gift: high-quality yet affordable, iconic, and recognizable. These products are inherently giftable year-round, from holiday bundles to everyday moments like housewarmings and birthdays. We’re excited to see McCormick unlock this channel in a way that matches how people shop today, especially with Barrel’s expertise behind the strategy,” says Liz Lorge, Zest’s head of marketing.

Working together allowed us to move quickly, test confidently, and launch without disrupting existing commerce flows. It also reinforced Barrel’s belief that even legacy brands can adopt innovative channels when the strategy is sound and the execution is thoughtful.

For McCormick, this collaboration is about enhancing the customer experience by introducing new ways to shop and gift that feel intuitive, useful, and aligned with the trust the brand has earned over generations. As the brand continues to expand its DTC offering with curated bundles, limited collaborations, and online-exclusive products, gifting becomes a natural extension of how customers already discover and share the brand.

As Barrel and Zest continue to partner on forward-looking ecommerce experiences, this work with McCormick reflects the brand’s broader commitment to modernizing its digital ecosystem. From curated bundles and limited collaborations to more intuitive online experiences like streamlined gifting, McCormick continues to evolve its ecommerce presence while staying true to what made the brand iconic.