Online grocer Peapod is letting busy consumers place orders and manage shopping lists via an iPad application.

The company has an mobile-optimized site and iPhone application and claims that the tablet gives users a more convenient way to shop for groceries. The iPad application is available in Apple’s App Store as a free download.

“We want to make the Peapod shopping experience optimal for whatever platform a consumer chooses to use,” said Peg Merzbacher, director of marketing at Peapod, Boston.

“IPads are in hot demand so it was only natural that we would optimize our app for the iPad,” she said. “ We also wanted to take advantage of the larger screen size to offer larger images.”

Peapod serves 23 United States markets in communities in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.

Made to order
Consumers can search for products by typing in a keyword or entering a UPC.

Users can view weekly specials, make lists and choose from products that they have bought in the past.

Additionally, consumers can use the Guess My Order feature that adds the items they frequently buy with a single touch.

“Mobile It plays a critical role in meeting our goal of making Peapod shopping accessible and easy,” Ms. Merzbacher said.

Users can shop via the app

Consumers can search via the app

Customers can view item details such as nutrition information

New enhancements
In addition to the new iPad application, Peapod also enhanced its mobile site with a new arrivals feature, where customers can view the latest product arrivals on the homepage.

Consumers can also sort products by size, unit price and calories.

“As smartphones and tablets grow in usage, we hope to support even more devices,” Ms. Merzbacher said.

Final Take
Here is a demo of Peapod’s iPad application