A free new iOS and Android app created for The Warehouse by Sush Mobile includes a bar code search that enables price comparisons between goods in the retailer’s catalogue and the same items also available at other stores.
Similar functionality has been possible offshore using services like RedLaser’s shopping app and Amazon’s Barcode Scanner, says Sush Mobile sales and marketing manager Derrick Olivier, but says his company wanted to create a New Zealand-centric offering.
“In New Zealand there aren’t a lot of big box stores that compare items like in the US, Canada and Europe,” says Olivier. “The Warehouse has a unique proposition to let you see every day items and get a price check if you see it in another store.”
A Warehouse spokesperson says although Countdown’s app can be used to compare prices using a bar code scanner, the retailer’s app “goes well beyond grocery” into multi-channel, cross-category retail, and “gives visibility across an enormous range of product categories”.
The mobile shopping app also lets customers search and buy products using a secure checkout, add items to a wishlist, get push notifications of price changes and offers and get store information.
“One of The Warehouse Group’s key strategies is to become New Zealand’s leading multichannel retailer and I believe that by challenging traditional shopping conventions, we are offering our customers an unmatched retail experience,” says CEO Mark Powell.
The group is made up of 92 The Warehouse stores, 76 Noel Leeming stores and 63 Warehouse Stationery stores, as well as several online businesses. It offers 50,000 products online.
