December 1, 2016

Ubamarket

Recent national statistics indicate that consumers are becoming disillusioned with their supermarket shopping experience with 66 per cent of UK shoppers stating they are frustrated and would potentially stop going to the UK’s 10,308 supermarkets.

 

More specifically the weekly food and drinks haul is the most daunting task of all, with over a quarter of UK consumers citing grocery shopping as their least favourite shopping experience. The challenge is that supermarkets are struggling to find a happy medium between the ease and availability of online shopping and the hands on experience with fresh produce that consumers still value.

 

Will Broome, CEO & Founder of Ubamarket approached DMI with his vision to develop a mobile app that could simplify and personalise the supermarket shopping experience, to empower the consumer once again.

 

Ubamarket is geared towards personalising the consumer’s in-store experience through enabling the store to identify and target shoppers entirely based on not only their purchase patterns but also their behaviour patterns.  This approach is unique in the marketplace and enables retailers to market themselves one on one with their customers in a highly relevant and natural manner. In even more simple terms, the multiple consumer benefits of speed, convenience and cost-saving that the app provides enables supermarkets to differentiate themselves from app-less stores.

DMI worked closely with Ubamarket to understand the changing needs of supermarket shoppers and ensure these needs were addressed throughout every step of the development process.

No hassle

A critical part of this was developing an intuitive UX/UI that enables shoppers to enter their shopping list with ease, and automatically save favourite products for easy searching during future shopping trips. The iOS app rearranges the shopping list according to item location in-store; tracking each item in order of convenience, total spend, special offers and loyalty points.

 

Beat the queues

To replicate the speedy checkout provided by online shopping the Ubamarket® app can be integrated with any POS provider database to enable shoppers to scan items as they shop and checkout via mobile payment.

 

Personalised loyalty

Users’ shopping lists and scanned items are automatically logged to enable retailers to adopt a targeted approach to loyalty programs and offer personalised rewards and discounts that meet customer needs.

 

With a disruptive project of this type that is constantly breaking new ground, flexibility and trust between DMI and Ubamarket was vital. On one occasion, the initial prototype store introduced a new version of the ‘reduced price barcode’ which had to be addressed at the eleventh hour before launch.

 

DMI assessed the situation immediately and adopted a proactive approach. “Whilst I was focused on other aspects of the project, DMI started the job in anticipation and completed within 48 hours of my official go-ahead.  This demonstrates a level of expertise, trust and commitment beyond any professional relationship I have ever experienced,” states Broome.

 

What next for Ubamarket?

 

After weeks of beta testing, Ubamarket went live to the public in Warner’s Budgens in Moreton-in-Marsh. During this short time the app has experienced a steady uptake of shoppers downloading the iOS app. In such a fast moving and innovative sector, Ubamarket relied heavily on capitalising on the first-mover advantage and speed was therefore of the essence. Being first to market was essential and priceless to the app’s launch campaign and DMI enabled Ubamarket to achieve this successfully.

 

The app has been working flawlessly and is has proven to be one of the most robust applications of its type. It is due for national roll-out across leading payment and loyalty solutions supplier Universe & HTEC Ltd. – that’s over 6000 UK stores. The app’s innovative technology, developed by DMI, enables the app to be compatible with any store globally within three days of store installation.

 

“DMI’s total belief in and support of the product is absolutely invaluable, and has given me the cast iron confidence that we are in the best hands possible at all times. This truly feels like a partnership as opposed to a standard client/supplier relationship and that is so much more powerful,” states Broome.