Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

I remember my mother sitting on the living room floor on Sundays, spread out with the weekly circular in front of her, planning our family’s shopping list for the week.

“Woo hoo! Another deal! Special K–two for one this week!” she’d announce gloriously, while clipping out the coupon and adding it to the collection she carried around in a tattered envelope in her purse. “Woo hoo! Fifty cents off Quilted Northern!”

Flash forward 25 years, and here I am doing the very same thing…on my iPhone.

Yesterday, MyWebGrocer and ShopRite launched the very first weekly specials iPhone App. We’re all very excited about it here at MWG because it’s a product we all believe in and use personally.

Click on image below view a video demo of the App

The App is the latest incarnation of MyWebGrocer’s efforts to make ShopRite’s customers’ lives easier. It functions as a portable circular and invites consumers to “start saving” before they even arrive at the store by browsing hundreds of items instantly. Among its many groundbreaking features, ShopRite Weekly Specials enables consumers to see what’s on sale in real time at their regular ShopRite store. Once they select an item, it literally tumbles into their shopping list, which is neatly organized by category with pictures, descriptions and real time prices. The App syncs and downloads store specials directly to an iPhone or iPod Touch and can even sync with customers’ shopping lists at ShopRite.com.

At the gym this morning, while plugging along on an excercise bike, I put together a dinner menu for tomorrow night based on the current sale items at ShopRite . I planned the meal around what’s on sale, and I was able to stay within budget my because the App gave me a running total of my basket price. When I got to the office, I printed out a paper copy of my list, and I will stop at the store tonight and pick up my groceries after work. I saved myself time and money, all while burning calories on the bike! I felt so good I added a box of chololate cookies to my shopping list…hey! I’d earned it!

Our App doesn’t try to be “all things to all people…” and I like that. This App focuses on what I want to know: what’s on sale at my local store. It’s simple and efficient and it gets the job done.

Twenty-five years later, I am “clipping coupons” just like mom. As I click around on my iPhone, I can understand the excitement she felt there on the living room floor clipping for “deals.” And I’m doing it from the gym…bonus.

So I might as well just say it: I am turning into my mother. Woo-hoo!

-Alison

We know consumers are looking for ways to save money. Statistics show us that more and more folks are using the Internet to find deals. They research products to find the best overall value first. Then the look at retailers websites to find the best price and special deals. These folks are known as “The Knowledge Shopper.” Grocery shopping is not immune. Your customers want to do the same. How? Well, they go to your website before they go shopping. They want to find your weekly circular and look for what’s on sale. With help from MyWebGrocer and your online program, they can place items in a list or move items into their ecommerce shopping cart while they are on your site. And for a small service fee, save the time it takes looking for deals and get all the shopping done online.

Show your consumers you know how they shop and understand their need for knowledge when shopping to save money and time.

/Dave Dec

As the holidays come to a close and 2009 is here, it’s time to focus on growing your company’s business.

Most retailers have websites, but many are company websites that do little more than give consumers the basics: store hours, contact information, background, etc. Among increased competition and changing consumer purchase behavior, it’s important to remember that it takes less effort to keep consumers than it does to go out and find new consumers.

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to increase customer retention is to increase your online presence. Improve your website and add user-friendly tools such as MyWebGrocer’s recipe engine, interactive circulars and integrated shopping list. Your consumers will appreciate the convenience of being able to go online to their favorite store’s site and find everything they need to plan their meals.

What’s more, as a part of MyWebGrocer’s online grocery advertising network, your company will make money simply by participating. Through MyWebGrocer’s revenue share program, you won’t have to lift a finger to generate advertising revenue up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Take the newspaper industry’s shift to digital as a perfect example of a smart, necessary, revenue-boosting move. In December, The Detroit News and 170-year-old Detroit Free Press announced they were cutting print editions and bolstering their digital efforts. The papers joined countless others that already made the change, included the well-known Christian Science Monitor, which announced earlier this year that it would stop printing completely and focus solely on online content. Detroit Media Partnership, which manages business operations for the papers, credited its “bold” decision to economics.

Resolve to focus on customer loyalty this year and generate easy revenue. Your customers, and supervisors, will thank you.

Rachel

Is it possible? Sure it is. During these economic times combined with current environmental issues, what choices can we make to improve finances and the environment? One way is with electronic circulars.

MyWebGrocer has many electronic circular solutions:

Static Circular: an electronic version of your print circular.
Interactive Circular: an electronic circular from which your customers can directly create, print, and email their shopping lists.
Shop-able Circular: place items from your weekly circular directly into their shopping cart for Online Grocery Shopping.

Because these are electronic versions:

Your customers can access the circular from your websites.
Customers can receive weekly specials in their email.
You can save paper, distribution and fuel costs associated with traditional print, and energy costs in the print process.

All of these combine to provide a high level of customer service, increase loyalty, save the environment, and save you and your customers money.

Contact us for more information.

/Dave