PG Web Extra: Top Grocery Apps

10/1/2014

The following is an online exclusive and companion piece to Grocery Apps Gone Wild, which appears in PG's October issue.

Wegmans Food Markets: The Wegmans app lets customers build shopping lists from past purchases, see an estimated total, scan products and add ingredients from recipes within the app. There are also videos for meal preparation, pharmacy refill options and the ability to load a loyalty card.

Trader Joe's: Customers get first look at new products; nutritional information, including gluten-free and kosher; and are given creative serving ideas and tasting notes from the chain’s in-house panel. There's also a "Call Now" button to talk to a Trader Joe's crew member.

Publix: View the company's weekly ad, create a shopping list and view Aprons recipes for meal and menu items. Ingredients can be added from the weekly ad or recipes, and customers can also refill a pharmacy subscription and mange their My Publix loyalty account.

Hy-Vee: The app offers a weekly ad, shopping list, and store and product locator, as well as recipes and the ability to refill a prescription from the pharmacy. Customers can also check their Fuel Saver or gift card balance, and use digital coupons.

Kroger Inc.: As well as loading online coupons directly on the Kroger Plus card and checking their fuel rewards balance and history, customers can access exclusive promotions and personalize offers.

Safeway Inc.: Aside from creating a shopping list and viewing a weekly add, customers can load savings on the go with U digital coupons and personalized deals.

Giant Eagle: With the grocer's three apps, Giant Eagle, Get Go and Giant Eagle Pharmacy, customers can load a loyalty card, browse and use digital coupons, view fuelperks and Beverage Club balances, search recipes, create shopping lists, and refill pharmacy subscriptions.

Sprouts Farmers Market: Customers can browse a selection of healthy-living resources, build shopping lists from recipes and weekly specials, and select and save online coupons.

Fairway: The Fairway app lets customers personalize based on specific dietary preferences, access exclusive mobile offers, view products and recipes, and create an interactive shopping list.

Additional Notable Apps

For those retailers with mobile workforces, Gigwalk launched an app in 2011 to provide real-time transparency into retail operations and execution at the store level. The app can help grocers identify and eliminate errors in retail execution, such as out-of-stocks, pricing discrepancies, and planogram and trade marketing noncompliance, according to the San Francisco-based company.

Using mobile technology, enterprise software, data and analytics, the app gives retailers a real-time performance dashboard, including individual store and third-party scorecards. Grocers can use the platform for their own internal workforces, for increased visibility of store conditions and retail execution, as well as for driving in-store sales. They can also send real-time fix notices to store teams within their organization as well as third parties, which can be tracked.

However, they can additionally leverage the on-demand mobile workforce of 600,000 Gigwalkers to provide businesses with real-time feedback and analytics on what's happening with operations.

Another app of note is Johnson & Johnson's 7-Minute Workout App, featuring the popular 7-Minute Workout developed by Chris Jordan, director of exercise physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. Introduced in January 2013, it has nearly 1 million downloads, according to New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J.

The app allows consumers to work out anywhere –- whether at home or at the office –- with high-intensity aerobic and resistance training using only body weight, and includes more than 30 minutes of high-quality video featuring Jordan. Also, a feature called Smart Workout gauges the user’s initial fitness level, provides a varied workout program and recommends intensity increases. The free app is available on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets.

The latest features include 36 exercises and 18 additional workouts for beginners and advanced exercisers, and also allow users to create their own workouts, with more than 1,000 variations.

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