Dive Brief:

• Ahold Delhaize USA’s e-commerce arm, Peapod Digital Labs, has launched a native mobile app for the company’s retail banners on Peapod’s Prism platform, according to a Wednesday press release. 
• Released earlier this quarter, the new app boosts speed and overall performance, allowing customers to track and modify orders, access reordering convenience features, see personalized recommendations and retrieve digital coupons more easily. 
• In-store apps continue to be a key component for regional grocers in building customer loyalty and streamlining the online shopping experience.

Dive Insight:

The new app was previously launched for Ahold Delhaize’s Giant Food and The Giant Company banners. More recently, Stop & Shop and Food Lion have gained access to the new mobile shopping experience, according to the announcement. 

Prior to the update, the mobile app for each Peapod brand incorporated a web experience customized for mobile use. In building the new app, Peapod reorganized features based on shoppers’ traffic patterns, and used native code languages of mobile operating systems to better the app’s speed and performance.

“Efficiency wasn’t the only priority,” Paul Yang, Peapod’s director of mobile engineering said in a statement, noting that the new design will help liven up what is “typically a transactional experience.”

Shoppers can also activate an in-store mode in the new Prism native mobile app, allowing them to easily scan, pay and place deli orders along with other features, the press release noted. 

Establishing loyalty through digital platforms is becoming more essential for regional grocers to keep up with national competitors. While regional retailers may not have the technological reach their larger competitors do, they can tap into their smaller, more condensed customer bases and incorporate shoppers’ wants into their platforms, experts have said. 

Cub Foods’ app, for example, allows customers to shop their pharmacy, schedule pickup and delivery orders and access numerous rewards, including fuel, all on one interface. Digital circulars as well as shoppable recipes are also growing to be more common features included in regional grocers’ apps.