Ahold Keen on Scanner App

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The Scan It mobile shopping technology is a critical element of Ahold USA’s digital strategy, Erik Keptner, Ahold’s executive vice president of marketing, said yesterday in a session at the Shopper Marketing Summit.

Erik Keptner. Photo by Brian Morrison Photography

What started out as shopping cart-based tablet has evolved into in-store handheld scanners and, more recently, a smart phone app.

The Scan It app enables loyalty shoppers to use their phones to scan and bag groceries and then transfer the completed order to a checkout lane for payment.

Read more: The Future of Shopper Marketing

Ahold leverages Scan It data to send targeted offers to users based on their past purchase history, or where they are in the store or what items they place in their basket.

“Scan It is a central element of our digital journey,” said Keptner.

One reason for this is that a typical Scan It trip is not short; it lasts a valuable 25 minutes.

“It gives us an opportunity to engage with those customers for a quite a bit of time,” he said.

What’s more, the typical Scan It basket is double that of an average basket size, proving that Scan It users are not simply fill-in shoppers.

Ahold distributes about 2 million personalized offers per week to Scan It users. Redemption of these offers is a strong 10%, Keptner said.