Tech Company Launches 1st Grocery Shopping Engine
Personalization in online shopping has just gotten easier with the launch of Anycart’s online grocery shopping engine. The software technology company has addressed key consumer barriers in online shopping to provide a seamless experience for both consumers and retail partners during the pandemic and beyond.
The massive increase in online grocery shopping was a major trend throughout the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anycart's revenue even grew 450% through its seven-month beta period. Further, the convenience of online shopping isn’t going anywhere. For instance, according to a recent survey, 61% of consumers shop for groceries online more now than they did pre-COVID.
With Anycart, consumers can search and shop thousands of items from their local grocery stores without price markups, subscriptions or delivery fees. By working directly with grocery stores and their employees to fulfill and deliver orders, Anycart is able to pass the savings back to its customers, saving customers an average of 30% on markup costs per order compared with third-party grocery delivery services.
"We recognized a gap in the market – and saw a real need by millions of Americans for a simpler, more affordable grocery shopping experience," said Rafael Sanches, co-founder and CEO of Anycart. "We're keeping our focus on creating the most accessible online grocery shopping experience with a post-pandemic world in mind."
Unlike other grocery delivery services, Anycart's technology powers a grocery shopping engine that directly integrates with each local store's inventory system. Customers choose from real-time inventory and place orders with Anycart, who then sends orders to the store where they are fulfilled, using their own employees to pick, pack and deliver the groceries.
Anycart has already partnered with 14 national retailers, including Whole Foods Market, Amazon, Safeway Inc., Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Jewel Osco, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Giant, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop, offering free delivery in 3,400 U.S. cities.
In addition, the company offers consumers a collection of more than 1,000 easy recipes with step-by-step video instructions. Consumers simply select a recipe and add all of the ingredients to their carts with one click. The platform also allows filtering for a variety of dietary needs.
"Grocery shopping and meal planning are some of the most time-intensive necessities that we take on every day. Going to the store and coming up with new ideas, day in and day out, is hard. We want to redefine that experience and make it as easy as possible for everyone," said Silvia Curioni, co-founder and COO of Anycart.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Anycart was founded in 2019 through the Amazon Alexa Accelerator program, backed by lead investors Menlo Ventures, in Menlo Park, Calif., and Greycroft, in New York. Anycart's footprint covers 4,000 store locations in 3,400 cities nationwide, and the company plans to add more stores in 2021.
