Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

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.

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”.

MyWebGrocer Client’s Launch New Social Networking Sites Targeting Parents

October 1st, 2008 Colchester VT: 66% of grandparents in the US live over a day’s drive away from their grandchildren. When a new mom needs advice where can she turn when her parents are so far away? MyBaby.com. MyBaby.com offers mom’s everywhere their own place to get advice, share, and discuss.

Retail grocers have taken notice of the social networking trend and MyWebGrocer’s customers are seeing up to 40% new customer acquisition with their social networking tool, MyBaby.com. Central Markets, Stepherson’s, Met Food, and Pioneer Supermarkets, have launched their co-branded MyBaby.com sites. These retailers will now offer an online community to their customers in a highly targeted loyal fashion.

Grocery customers are already on the internet; social networking sites make up for more web traffic than any other websites besides search engines. Launching these online communities reaches out to current and potential clients who are already online and involved in social networking. Retailers who launch this free site are also able to take part in an ad-revenue share program. With MyBaby.com, weekly targeted specials sorted by zip code are sent to customers allowing for open communication between retailers and customers. This communication enables the retailer’s message to be sent directly to their customers.

MyWebGrocer CEO Rich Tarrant, “Here we talk about making connections. MyBaby helps parents connect with each other to share information. The site helps parents and retail grocers connect so that parents can provide feedback and rate products, and these grocers can use the site to let parents know what child-oriented specials and activities are available at their stores. MyBaby.com creates the place for dialogue and connects parents.”

MyBaby.com is a value added feature for retail grocer’s customers. It offers customers an online community where users can discuss, share, and post items that they find important in today’s market. Targeted towards the highly influential groups, Moms, MyBaby.com can increase customer acquisition, brand loyalty, and product advocacy. 91% of moms prefer brands that other moms have recommended and MyBaby.com is an outlet where people are able to make these recommendations. Moms control 1.7 trillion dollars in US spending annually and 80% of all household spending.

Cheers!
Courtney

In a recent publication by Grocery Headquarters Magazine, Rich Tarrant was quoted stating a few tips to stay alive in these tough economic times, read what he has to say,

“‘A good way for supermarkets to do that is by using their websites. Giving consumers the ability to pursue the items that are on sale on your website, and building a shopping list from that is clearly an area that will help people manage their budgets, and can help retailers differentiate themselves within the current environment’. Tarrant suggests retailers offer meal suggestions and recipes on their websites, and set it up so just a click of the mouse adds those ingredients to a shopping list. ‘Anything you can do to make that easier for the time-pressed consumer naturally gives you some assistance in combating other retailers who maybe don’t make it that easy for consumers,’ he says. ‘Retailers promoting online shopping can increase their sales in the high-margin HBA and non-foods categories. Customers who use the online channel consolidate their purchases back to the retailer and are not doing multiple stops. They may pay a service fee, but they’ve saved time by eliminating having to go to more outlets. In a time where a cup of coffee is $3, to save an hour and 20 minutes in a store, particularly if you are a young mother with kids, is a very easy value proposition to justify even in tight times.’”

Want to read the whole article? Check it out
here

Cheers!

-Courtney