Foodie.fm Expands Online Grocery Business in the United Kingdom

HELSINKI, December 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

- Digital Foodie partners with The Southern Co-operative to trial a Click & Collect service

Digital Foodie, creator of the award winning Foodie.fm platform, and The Southern Co-operative (TSC), an independent food retail co-operative trading across the south of England, have established a partnership to trial Click & Collect services.

TSC is testing a Click & Collect service based on Foodie Local, a new online self-service platform currently piloting in the UK. The core of the service is a storefront built on Foodie's behavioural recommendation engine. Foodie offers shoppers personalised product and food recommendations that are seamlessly linked to shopping online.

Trials of the service have focused on customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and quality. Foodie's tablet based in-store tools are designed to provide everything needed to run online grocery operations from efficient picking to home deliveries and Click & Collect.

"The retail industry is undergoing a major transformation to online. With Foodie Local, grocery stores can quickly introduce Click & Collect operations and enhance their customer relationships in-store and online. Convenience is all about serving consumers' individual needs in their local communities. Foodie Local includes product data and the in-store tools needed to run online operations in one package.  Setting up a store is very fast and easy. Our trials in the UK have given us the knowledge to expand and we're now ready to take more stores on board," explains Antti Ijäs, VP of Operations at Digital Foodie.

"When we started discussions with Foodie, we were impressed by their approach with personalised meals and efficient in-store fulfilment. In a surprisingly short time, we were able to setup Click & Collect operations in one of our stores. That will bring us valuable information about how we can serve our customers in better and more convenient ways and make fulfilment operations as efficient as possible," says Steve Tremlett, TSC's Head of Retail Business Development.

The Foodie Local platform includes information on more than 100,000 products sold in the UK and is available as a web service optimised for both large and mobile screen sizes. To sign up go to http://www.foodielocal.com.

Foodie Local is a self-service product designed by Digital Foodie. It is a part of the Foodie.fm product suite, a fully personalised grocery shopping platform used by major retailers and brands. For consumers, Foodie.fm is a free service empowering people to shop online, consume smarter and eat better. The core of the service is formed by highly personalised food and product recommendations that make everyday shopping easy and fun. For retailers, the Foodie.fm platform provides all the tools needed to run modern eCommerce operations and home deliveries. Foodie.fm is currently available on web, iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone platforms. Digital Foodie is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. http://www.foodie.fm