Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

Foodtown of New Jersey has launched its new online channel with industry leader, MyWebGrocer. Their new revamped online presence includes foodtown.com and freshtown.com. Foodtown and Freshtown previous websites have been updated with a new fresh look and offer the online user more functionality. This functionality will now include MyWebGrocer’s interactive circular, shopping list, online grocery shopping, recipe engine, email marketing, consumer profile management, and coupons. In addition to these services, Foodtown will be joining MyWebGrocer’s national advertising network.

Their new online channel will consolidate and fully integrate all the functionality on the foodtown.com and freshtown.com websites. Removing the silos of functionality that have been in place will create a much for user friendly and functionally rich experience for the consumer.

“Foodtown is in one of the most competitive online grocery markets in the country”, explains Patty Youchock, Director of Advertising and Marketing of Foodtown. “Our new partnership with MyWebGrocer will allows us to compete in a way that was just not possible in the past”.

Curt Alpeter, Sr. Vice President, Sales for MyWebGrocer comments, “MyWebGrocer is thrilled to bring Foodtown into the family of Retailers that we partner with for ecommerce and online marketing tools. They are also a great addition to the online advertising network and will further solidify our strong East Coast presence”.

After piloting the program with employees for several weeks, Buehler’s launched online shopping at its Medina River Styx location in early October. An astonishing 70% of all orders they are receiving are coming from new customers. One consumer sent Buehler’s this email, “I used to shop at a competitive retailer just for the fuel incentives, but with your online shopping service, I find my time is of greater value than a few dollars off gas. Even with the new Super WalMart opening, I will still choose Buehler’s online shopping.”

Mary McMillen, Director of Consumer Affairs and Project Lead for Buehler’s Click, Load & Go, notes, “In today’s challenging economic market, online shopping is affording Buehler’s a new service to offer our consumers, as well as a net new growth engine for our company. Acquiring new customers in good times is hard enough, let alone in tough economic times. Our new online shopping initiative is allowing us to make the most of the very challenging competitive markets.”

“Differentiation is always key in the retail grocery market and I could not be happier with Buehler’s success to date. Especially in today’s market, I am thrilled MyWebGrocer can help Buehler’s build a profitable and growing channel for their business”, adds Curt Alpeter, Sr. Vice President of Sales for MyWebGrocer.

MyWebGrocer is proud to be the industry leader in online grocery services, powering hundreds of thousands of orders yearly. Their model leverages the retailer’s existing brick and mortar locations by providing a comprehensive eCommerce program for in store pick-up and/or home delivery. Each online store is customized to mirror the same inventory, pricing and promotions as the physical store. When retailers, such as Buehler’s Supermarkets, utilize MyWebGrocer’s detailed training, operational best practices, handheld picking tools and a product inventory of over 600,000 items, building an online shopping channel is seamless, profitable and a significant differentiator over your competition.

About Buehler’s: Buehler’s is a family-owned chain of thirteen stores located in Wooster, Ohio.

About MyWebGrocer:
MyWebGrocer was one of the first to launch online Software as a Service for retail grocers in 1999. MyWebGrocer increases basket size, acquires new customers, retains current customers, and drives revenue in-store and online business for their clients. MyWebGrocer has the largest grocery advertising network in the country covering 85% of the US, earning their clients direct ad revenue. Some of their clients include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 90 other leading grocery chains. For more information please visit www.mywebgrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

Your business has a new online service and you want your consumer’s to know about it; how do you accomplish this? This was the question Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., Inc. was asking when they launched their online grocery shopping application powered by MyWebGrocer in May 2008. Order count was on the rise but Piggly Wiggly wanted to see more.

Piggly Wiggly opted for MyWebGrocer’s marketing services package which includes flyers, receipt holders, email announcements, and an online shopping how to guide. The first marketing tactic that they launched was the email announcement. This email announced that online grocery shopping was now available at certain Piggly Wiggly locations. It was sent to their large customer email base and had a positive response. The announcement went out in the beginning of July and by the end of the month they had an increase in orders immediately. Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. is seeing an average order growth rate of 53% month over month.
“MyWebGrocer graciously approached us regarding a trial of their New Store Marketing Program to promote our online shopping service,” explains Christy Boudolf, Assistant Marketing Director. “They seeded us with great tactics for a strong in-store marketing presence including: online shopping flyers, register receipt envelopes, email announcement text, shopping cart signs, and more. We took many of their ideas and added some of our own– outdoor in a suburban segment of our home market, radio spots in select markets, additional email blasts, uniform vests with our Click ‘n Shop logo for personal shoppers and baggers and lapel buttons for front end employees. MyWebGrocer’s ideas provided a needed jumpstart to our program. Our store employees were excited with the influx of materials to help share the message of our online shopping service with our time-starved guests.”
“Online Shopping is not a ‘build it and they will come’ service”, adds Curt Alpeter, Sr. Vice President of Sales for MyWebGrocer. “It takes online and offline marketing efforts to build the interest and the simple fact the service is available. Over the years we have seen what marketing efforts work and which do not. Our new Marketing Services offering is meant to keep our Retailers from re-inventing the wheel in this area.”
Combining these types of services with comprehensive search engine marketing tools provides a solid marketing base for any retailer trying to be successful with online shopping.
About Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company: A Charleston, S.C., based Supermarket Company founded in 1947. Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company today is the largest 100% employee-owned, privately operated retail company in South Carolina. The Company has more than 105 stores and over 5,000 employee owners throughout South Carolina and southeastern Georgia.

Roche Bros. to Launch MyWebGrocer’s Ad Network and Interactive Circular

October 7th 2008, Colchester VT: Roche Bros. will be the first Buy4Now client to add MyWebGrocer’s functionality into its online channel. This comes less than a month after MyWebGrocer acquired Buy4Now. Roche Bros. will be deploying the interactive weekly circular tool that will fully integrate with the Buy4Now ecommerce tool set, in addition to the recipe and shopping list functionality already in place. Layered across all these applications, Roche will also be installing the MyWebGrocer Advertising Network.

Arthur Ackles, Director of Marketing at Roche Bros., comments, “The news that MyWebGrocer acquired Buy4Now was met with optimism by Roche Bros. Our ability to leverage all the MyWebGrocer tools with our proven ecommerce solution from Buy4Now validates the benefits both companies bring to companies like Roche Bros.”

“Roche Bros. has a very established and successful online channel that garners a great deal of traffic on a monthly basis,” notes Curt Alpeter, Sr. Vice President at MyWebGrocer. “Our ability to integrate the Advertising Network is a huge opportunity for both Roche Bros. and MyWebGrocer, not to mention the added value it will bring the consumer.”

Roche Bros. will now join the nation’s largest grocery advertising network hosting top advertisers such as Kellogg’s, Florida’s Natural, and General Mills. MyWebGrocer’s targeted online advertising solutions increase product sales and brand awareness; the average manufacturer conversion rate from click to purchase is 47%.

About MyWebGrocer:
MyWebGrocer was one of the first to launch online Software as a Service for retail grocers in 1999. MyWebGrocer increases basket size, acquires new customers, retains current customers, and drives revenue in-store and online business for their clients. MyWebGrocer has the largest grocery advertising network in the country covering 85% of the US, earning their clients direct ad revenue. Some of their clients include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 90 other leading grocery chains. For more information please visit Mywebgrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

About Roche Bros.:
Roche Bros. Supermarkets is a privately held corporation consisting of 18 supermarket retail operations, which service consumers in the Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts marketplace. Founded in 1952 by brothers Bud and Pat Roche, Roche Bros. has expanded to be one of the largest privately held supermarkets in New England. The success and growth of the company has been based upon offering their valued customers quality selections of grocery, produce, meats, seafood, deli, take home food, prepared and frozen food and health and beauty care products. Roche Bros. commitment to quality value and superior customer service is backed by the company’s promise “Your family deserves the best.”

MyWebGrocer Announces deployment of the MC70

MyWebGrocer is pleased to announce that the MC70 is now successfully deployed in the field, improving picking efficiency for our base of 90 Grocery Retailers.
The MC70 developed by Symbol enables MyWebGrocer’s retailers to be more efficient when fulfilling online grocery orders. The system operates on Standard Microsoft WinMobil 5.0 Operating system. It has a color display and a backlight to aid personal shoppers. This new handheld is the most rugged and durable in the market today. The increase in memory supports more order features such as displaying full customer’s order notes as well as full item descriptions.

“The New Symbol Handheld device is an exciting progression in efforts to make the fulfillment process for Retailers more efficient and cost effective” explains Curt Alpeter, Senior Vice President of MyWebGrocer. “Driving costs down and continually increasing the ROI in online shopping is a perennial goal for any retailer involved with ecommerce. The new MC70 will increase order fulfillment accuracy and decrease the amount of time it takes to fulfill an order.”

“If we didn’t use these handhelds, we’d be up a creek!” Explains Cathy Shelton Manager of the Lowes Food to Go Program, “Also, having MyWebGrocer come in and train our team on using the handhelds was a significant value-add”.

According to Conrad Blickenstorfer, Reporter for Rugged PC Review.com, “Symbol designed the MC70 to provide mobile workers with everything they need to increase productivity and efficiency indoors and outdoors, from field worker’s reading meters and repairing equipment to drivers delivering packages, hospital workers checking lab results and medication orders, and more.”

Some of MyWebGrocer’s retailers utilizing this system today include Shoprite, Lowes Foods, and Harris Teeter. Retailers can expect to see shortened order fulfillment time and an increase in order picking accuracy.

Cheers!
Courtney