The Foodland app lets consumers track their rewards as well as create mobile shopping lists. It was built with Pasadena, CA-based mobile commerce provider DoubleBeam.

“Foodland, like most other retailers out there, recognizes that mobile adoption is getting to be something that is commonplace for everyday users,” said Ted Tekippe, CEO of DoubleBeam, Pasadena, CA.

“More and more people are doing things on their smartphones, and they want a way to connect with and engage with their users and help make their shopping experience better and more convenient, so I think this opportunity to roll out their own branded application with features and functionality specific to their stores and their customers made a lot of sense,” he said.

Foodland Super Market, Ltd. was founded in 1948 and was the first modern supermarket to open in Hawaii. It currently has 32 stores spanning four islands with 2,500 employees and is the largest locally owned and operated grocery retailer in Hawaii.

App savvy
The Foodland app debuted on January 29 and is available for free on Apple and Android phones. In just the first three weeks, the app was downloaded 19,000 times.

The app lets consumers add their Maika`i loyalty cards to their phones so that they do not have to carry around a physical card. They can view their Maika`i point balances and track their progress toward earning My Rewards certificates for free product, grocery discount or HawaiianMiles.

Consumers can also create shopping lists in the app by adding items directly from Foodland’s weekly ads, scanning product bar codes or by typing it in.

Additionally, consumers can find the nearest Foodland location and its hours in the store locator feature.

Mobile convenience
Like other retailers, Foodland is taking advantage of mobile to bring more convenience to consumers.

Grocery stores in particular are looking to mobile to make a weekly errand more efficient and save consumers time.

For instance, ShopRite is piloting an app that lets consumers scan products as they shop and then checkout themselves on their phone instead of waiting in line (see story).

Russian supermarket chain Land has also been rolling out new in-store technology to enhance the grocery shopping experience with personalization and customization (see story).

Foodland is simply taking its own stab at simplifying the grocery shopping experience.

“The convenience it’s adding to their shoppers is huge,” Mr. Tekippe said. “They’ve completely digitized and mobilized their rewards program which makes it much easier for their customers to see how many rewards they have and to be able to redeem that all through their mobile device.

“That’s tremendous value over what they used to have to do which is go online to look at their points balance, manage paper certificates, hold on to those. This makes it far more convenient.”

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York