Supermarket Websites Integrate Social Networking to Personalize Shopping Experience

MINNEAPOLIS- Grocery Shopping Network (GSN) announced today the initial launch of their Social Media Integration suite with 20 of their retail partners in the United States. The new Social Media Integration suite allows shoppers to easily register for a website using their Facebook identity, while also allowing retailers to personalize their shopping experience through a mix of transactional data coupled with Facebook profile information.

"Shoppers who register using their Facebook identity have proven to be our retail partners most active and loyal shoppers; in return we are able to provide shoppers with an enormous amount of relevant resources, delivering a personalized shopping experience prior to visiting their favorite grocery store," said Andy Robinson, Founder and CEO of Grocery Shopping Network. "By allowing consumers to register through their Facebook identity, we have simplified the shopper registration process for our Grocery retail partners."

Using Grocery Shopping Network's Social Media Integration suite, shoppers also have the ability to share their favorite recipes with their family and friends by pressing the Facebook "Like" button or Twitter "Tweet" button featured on each recipe detail page on their favorite grocery retail websites. By selecting to either Like or Tweet a recipe, consumers will also assist retailers in creating a more personalized shopping experience.

"Through our research, we've verified that consumers use their grocers' digital presence (website, mobile, and social) to pre-plan their shopping trips, this "Pre-tailing" activity takes place before shoppers get to the store; combining GSN's proprietary intelligence with transactional data and current store offers has resulted in an increase of consumer spending with our participating retail partners," said Andy Robinson, Founder and CEO of Grocery Shopping Network. "This personalization goes a long way towards creating a more dynamic consumer experience on our existing platform for grocery retailers."

Grocery Shopping Network's 20 retail partners that have launched their new Social Media Integration Suite include: Scolari's Food and Drug Company, Strack and Van Til Supermarkets, Ultra, Grand Union Family Markets, Coborn's, and D'Agostino's.

Taking place at a later date, the full launch of Grocery Shopping Network's Social Media Integration suite will include new tools that allow consumers to register and log-in with their existing Google or Yahoo identities. The new tools will also give consumers the ability to share circular items with their friends through Facebook and Twitter.