Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

Colchester VT, September 22nd, 2009:  The continuing shift of media spending from offline to online advertising has led MyWebGrocer to expand its presence in the key New York City market. To meet this demand, MyWebGrocer is opening its first dedicated Manhattan office and has hired Dan Vanchieri as Vice President of Sales for the Eastern Region.

Dan joins MyWebGrocer with more than 10 years of digital media and sales experience. Most recently, Dan spent two years at Fox Interactive Media, where he led strategic development and revenue generation within MySpace for partners like Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, AT&T, Pfizer, Heineken and Yum Brands. Prior to Fox, Dan served at Microsoft, executing online sales and strategy for numerous e-commerce and Fortune 500 companies.

“Dan is a consummate pro in the digital space,” said Alec Newcomb, Executive Vice President of MyWebGrocer. “With our continuing expansion and the shifts in the marketplace, Dan’s strategic insights and experience in generating real growth for partners will be key. We’re all excited to have him lead the new Manhattan office.”

MyWebGrocer’s new offices in New York City are located at 260 Madison Avenue. It operates the nation’s largest grocery media platform. In August of 2009, the company received a $13 million equity investment from Stripes Group, a private investment firm focused on rapidly growing and profitable Internet and software-as-a-service companies.

About MyWebGrocer, Inc.

MyWebGrocer, founded in 1999 and based in Colchester, VT, is the leading digital service provider for retail grocers, connecting retail brands to their customers through ecommerce and online tools. MyWebGrocer has the largest online grocery-advertising media platform in the country with more than 5,000 grocery stores nationwide using their services. Advertisers include Kellogg’s, Unilever, Nestle, P&G and 60 other leading brands.

On Wednesday, August 5, 2009, Stripes Group completed a $13 million equity investment in MyWebGrocer Inc., a rapidly growing and profitable Colchester, VT‐based software‐as‐a‐service company providing leading regional and national grocery store chains and consumer packaged goods companies with online commerce and digital media services. As part of their unique platform, MyWebGrocer operates the nation’s largest grocery ad network with over 4 million monthly shoppers.

DanMarriott, Managing Partner of Stripes Group, will be joining the MyWebGrocer Board of Directors.

About Stripes Group:

Stripes Group, founded in 2003 and based in New York, is a private investment firm focused on growth stage minority and majority investments in rapidly growing and profitable internet, software‐as‐a‐service, technology‐enabled services and consumer products companies. Stripes Group typically partners with founder‐owned and operated companies that have had no prior institutional investors.  For more information on Stripes Group, visit www.stripesgroup.com.

About MyWebGrocer, Inc.:
MyWebGrocer, founded in 1999 and based in Colchester, VT, is a founder‐owned and managed software‐as‐a‐service company providing online commerce, communications and digital media services to leading grocery store chains and consumer packaged goods companies while also operating the nation’s largest grocery ad network. MyWebGrocer has been profitable nearly since inception and has established itself as the leader in the industry with over 5,000 grocery stores nationwide using their platform and over 60 globally recognized brands, including Kelloggs, Unilever, Nestle and P&G, reaching 4 million monthly shoppers on their industry‐leading grocery ad network.

A recent story on “This Week.com” highlighted MyWebGrocer’s client Buehler’s Fresh Foods for their online grocery shopping service.

A new location in Delaware is now offering the online shopping service and it has been more than well received:

Photo By By Ann Tormet/ThisWeek courtesy of ThisWeek.com

“As she loads groceries, Vance said she is often thanked by the customer.

‘They love it,’ Vance said. ‘They don’t like shopping.’

‘I had a lady who came in the other night all the way from Westerville,’ Conley added.

The first shopping experience is free, said Deb McKee, service and facilities manager of the Delaware Buehler’s. After that, the cost is $7.95 per order or $24.95 for unlimited shopping within a 30-day period.”

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The Burlington Free Press recently ran a story on how “Companies get social with marketing”.  One major take away, if it can work for grocery it can and will work for your business.

MyWebGrocer was the feature for this story:

“Facebook and Twitter are fun, but they can also make a business thrive.

So say Alec Newcomb, vice president of MyWebGrocer, and Rebecca Roose, a project manager with the Colchester firm. MyWebGrocer provides digital services for leading retail grocers such as Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y and Food Lion. Newcomb said the lessons he’s learned helping grocery chains can apply to almost any business.

Social media helps level the playing field, Newcomb said. There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars on an ad campaign when a business can use social media to do its bidding.”

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MyWebGrocer and Big in Japan have partnered to bring timely and relevant product data and advertising to the Google Android Platform. ShopSavvy, Big in Japan’s popular price comparison application, utilizes MyWebGrocer’s grocery data to help consumers find relevant products and pricing at their local grocery retailers.

Using any Google Android phone, shoppers can scan a barcode found on any grocery product and are instantly shown product results from ShopSavvy. These results include prices on the web and at local stores, consumer reviews, an option to save the product to their “wish list” and to sign up for results when the price changes on the item. As consumers are grocery shopping, from the palm of their hand they will be able to see information that they traditionally had to get from newspaper circulars or direct mail.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with a mobile leader like Big in Japan,” said Alec Newcomb, MyWebGrocer’s Vice President. “Customer response to ShopSavvy in the US has been incredible, and we are excited about being able to provide relevant and timely information on the 800,000 branded products across our 95 Grocery Retailers.”

“Grocery data has been a challenge for ShopSavvy from the very start. More than 25% of ShopSavvy users have scanned more than a million grocery items with limited success over the past year,” said Alexander Muse co-founder of Big in Japan. “Our partnership with MyWebGrocer means users can finally access real-time pricing and inventory for hundreds of thousands of grocery related items.”

ShopSavvy Demo

MyWebGrocer is currently live on ShopSavvy and relevant CPG Advertising is being deployed this quarter on the application.

About MyWebGrocer:

MyWebGrocer is the leading digital services provider for retail grocery, connecting retail brands to their consumers through ecommerce and online tools.  Retail partners include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 90 other leading grocery chains. MyWebGrocer has the largest online grocery-advertising network with 3.8 Million monthly shoppers, attracting advertisers such as Kellogg’s, Unilever, Nestle, P&G and 60 other leading brands. For more information please visit MyWebGrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

About Big in Japan:

Big in Japan builds cool applications for mobile devices, including Apple’s award winning iPhone and Google’s open source Android platform, think of us as the mobile idea factory. Our latest application ShopSavvy™ won Google’s Android Developer Challenge and is available on T-Mobile’s G1 Google Android phone. Big in Japan is not just a development shop, they manage and support applications for millions of users for major brands including FX Network and LEGO.