A NEW app, hailed by its co-founder as “the Gas Buddy of the grocery industry”, has officially launched.
Grocery Dealz is a grocery e-commerce marketplace that allows shoppers to compare grocers’ prices in real time.
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Once shoppers have used the free app to compare prices, they can build an in-app cart.
Users and their pre-made carts are then directed to the selected grocer’s app or website.
In cases where the cart cannot be moved to the grocer’s platform, shoppers will be directed to their preferred grocer’s website, according to Grocery Dealz.
CEO and co-founder Michael Waldroup called the app “the Gas Buddy of the grocery industry”.
The app was launched in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in mid-June.
It is set to expand across the rest of Texas, with the long-term goal of reaching shoppers nationwide.
The company said in May that its national expansion will happen region-by-region and state-by-state.
While Grocery Dealz aims to partner with as many grocery players as possible, the company said that grocers do not need to be partnered with the app for their prices to be included.
This is because the company’s price data comes from a third party.
Waldroup explained that the purpose of the app is not to expose which grocers are most expensive, but instead help them attract more customers and build brand loyalty.
He said: “We look at this as a marketplace. So if you’re not in the marketplace, you’re going to lose 100 percent of the time.”
Grocery Dealz also plans to work with coupons and other discounts.
Waldroup said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for the consumer.
“So we basically want to figure out a way to auto-apply coupons to shopping lists.
“That way, [users are] not having to manually scroll through [coupons to] figure out which ones apply.”
It comes as two apps have been banned for stealing private photos from users, allowing hackers to blackmail victims.
The apps are believed to be infected with a new strain of SparkCat malware, a type of malicious software, researchers at Kaspersky discovered in January.
Although these apps have been removed from the Google Play and Apple App Stores, cybersecurity researchers warn that TikTok clone apps may be carrying out similar attacks.
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