Ahold’s Mobile Apps

Ahold USA is unusual among food retailers for having not one but two separate mobile apps.

Ahold USA’s Scan It! mobile app, which enables loyalty shoppers to use their phones to scan and bag groceries and then transfer the completed order to a checkout lane for payment, has been rolled out to about 270 Stop & Shop locations; these are the locations that have similar functionality in a store-provided scanning device. Both the app and device also receive in-store targeted offers based on a shopper’s purchasing history and location in the store.

This month, Ahold USA will also complete the rollout of the Scan It! app to the 81 Giant-Landover stores that have the in-store scanning device, said Tracy Pawelski, vice president, external communications, Ahold USA. The company plans to expand the rollout to other stores that have not offered the in-store device, though “the timing of any additional expansion is still being determined,” she said.

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Pawelski acknowledged that while usage of the Scan It! app continues to grow, “we are still learning about the unique needs of our mobile shoppers and working to make their mobile shopping experience the best that it can be.”

Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover also offer another app designed to keep loyalty card shoppers updated on their gas points, school rewards and year-to-date savings, and to offer those shoppers targeted coupons they can download to their cards. In January, Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover released version 2.0 of this mobile app.

The updated app has a revamped store locator and gas finder sections. It also contains a “My Lists” list-making feature that links to the store flier and the shopper’s previous purchases, and can sort the list by aisle; the mobile list remains in sync with lists created the Stop & Shop website. Stop & Shop notes in the app that My Lists is still in beta mode, “which means we are still working out the bugs and adding functionality.” Early customer feedback on the list feature indicates “that we are on the right path,” said Pawelski. “It is clear to us that this is a need shoppers have and we will continue to build on our current offering in order to fulfill it.”

Asked if Ahold USA plans to merge the Stop & Shop/Giant app with the Scan It! app, Pawelski said the company is “definitely exploring how to enhance and simplify the mobile customer experience.”

In other Ahold USA technology moves, its Peapod online grocery service continues to expand store pick-up locations for online orders, adding a ninth location last month and planning more locations this year, CEO Dick Boer said.