Shop ‘n Save Supports Updated Navigation App

MICHAEL GARRY

ST. LOUIS – Shop ‘n Save here, a 45-store division of Supervalu, has begun supporting the latest version of the free aisle411 iPhone product-locator app through a partnership with aisle411, also located here.

The key features of version 2.0 of the app, made available nationwide last week, include a shopping list manager, recipe search for more than 130,000 recipes, voice-enabled product locator, and aisle navigation system that maps the optimal path to one or more items. (The maps are based on updated store information that the retailer provides aisle411 or that aisle411 accesses via public information.) The app syncs with the list-building and recipe-search features on aisle411’s website.

“It’s a dandy little product,” Marlene Gebhard, president of Shop ‘n Save, told SN. “It’s a great time-saver for our customers and is extremely user friendly. My 80-year-old mom uses it.” The chain has received positive feedback on the app from customers on its Facebook page.

Shop ‘n Save will “let customers know” about the new version of the app, Gebhard said. In the past, she added, the chain has done “a better job of marketing” the app than its competitors, several of whom have also made the app available for their stores.

Shop ‘n Save worked with aisle411 to pilot the original version of the app that was useable on any mobile phone; then a year ago the chain launched the first version of the iPhone app, which included a list manager and product locator. (Gebhard declined to cite the number of users.) Next month, an Android version of the device will be released. The aisle411 app, without store branding, is free to the retailer; to date Shop ‘n Save has not branded the app.

Gebhard would like to see the app incorporate targeted offers from CPG companies, such as a coupon for detergent for soap purchasers, “so I can get my basket size up.”

Other retailers partnering with aisle411 include Schnucks, Hy-Vee and WinCo, though aisle411 has tapped store maps of numerous other retailers via public information. Last week aisle411 announced that retailers could freely integrate aisle411’s navigation system into their mobile and web-based apps.