Stop & Shop Named Food Innovator

QUINCY, Mass. — Fast Company Magazine has named Stop & Shop, a division of Ahold USA, one of its most innovative food companies, No. 9 on a list of 10 and the only food retailer.

Stop & Shop was recognized for its mobile app, Scan It! Mobile, which allows customers to use their personal mobile device to scan, tally and receive personalized savings while they shop. The app is based on the functionality incorporated in the chain’s Scan It! handheld device, available to shoppers in 350 stores (including Giant-Landover locations).  

Stop & Shop is testing the mobile app in some of the stores that offer the handheld device. Both the mobile app and handheld device are powered by software from Modiv Media here.

“Being recognized as an innovator by Fast Company for Scan It! Mobile is a tremendous honor,” said Mark McGowan, president, Stop & Shop New England Division, in a statement. “Our goal is to make shopping easier for our customers and we are pleased by their positive response to the app. We’re proud to be held in such high regard with other pioneering companies.”

Other companies that made the top 10 in the food industry include Starbucks for its mobile app and payment system, Chipotle for increasing its use of local produce, GrubHub for expanding its online delivery service to mobile, and NessComputing for creating a social food app that recommends what to eat next.

In addition to food, the other categories in the magazine’s survey of innovative companies included finance, Web/Internet, music, mobile, media, India, health care, gaming, fashion, education, consumer electronics, advertising, social media, China, Brazil, biotech and retail.