Smart & Final Selects Mercatus Platform to Power New Online Shopping Experiences for Consumers and Businesses

By STS News Desk On Nov 2, 2019

Pickup Order Profitability Can Be Improved by Giving Grocery Customers the Choice Between Fee and Speed

California-based grocery retailer launches redesigned SmartandFinal.com and Business.SmartandFinal.com to offer a fully integrated, customizable and retailer-controlled shopping experience

Mercatus, the leading digital commerce platform for grocery and other retail verticals, and Smart & Final, the smaller, faster grocery warehouse store for household and business customers, announced that the retailer successfully launched two customized online shopping portals serving household shoppers and business customers.

“The ability to grow our digital offering, while maintaining direct contact with our customers, is essential”

Smart & Final worked with Mercatus and its network of retail technology partners, including AgilOne, Flipp, GK Software, InfoSys, Shipt, Tata Consultancy Services and TForce, to rapidly scale a seamless online ordering and fulfillment experience that is tailored to meet the online shopping needs of Smart & Final customers.

The New Smart & Final Online Shopping Experiences

By 2022, consumers could be spending $100 billion a year on online grocery, according to the Food Marketing Institute. Smart & Final set out to find solutions that would enable the retailer to continue offering and improving authentic online shopping experiences, particularly through the implementation of customer data and insights, for household and business customers.

Smart & Final’s new online shopping experiences use the Mercatus platform and its network of partners to engage shoppers through multiple touchpoints. Smart & Final customers now enjoy easy access to the retailer’s weekly digital flyers and coupons, shoppable recipes and meal planning, customized shopping lists, dietary preferences, payment and delivery options, all within the retailer’s branded web and mobile apps. Additionally, Smart & Final now offers delivery orders via Mercatus Dispatch – an integrated white-label, last-mile delivery solution that seamlessly connects Smart & Final household shoppers and business customers to a host of third-party delivery providers. The Mercatus platform gives Smart & Final the ability to offer a fully integrated retailer branded and controlled experience that will scale with the growth of its online shopping business.

“The ability to grow our digital offering, while maintaining direct contact with our customers, is essential,” said Ed Wong, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Smart & Final. “As we continuously strive to maintain a lasting relationship with our shoppers, partnering with Mercatus and other platform partners is the logical next step towards enhancing and ultimately owning our eCommerce experience. With the Mercatus platform, we believe that our online experience will serve the evolving needs of our valued customers.”

Smart & Final will also leverage new platform capabilities from Mercatus, including a bilingual English and Spanish shopping experience, along with call center operations management and support in both languages.

Technology Providers Deliver Strategic Integrations

The Mercatus platform offers a true end-to-end shopping experience, from engagement through order completion via in-store pick-up or delivery orchestration. Throughout the shopper journey, the following companies will enable Smart & Final’s end-to-end experience:

AgilOne – Provides Smart & Final with a single source for insights into customer shopping behavior and ways to optimize the online shopping experience
Flipp – Gives shoppers a best-in-class weekly ad experience across Smart & Final’s digital properties and amplified across the Flipp app
GK Software – Creates a frictionless checkout by implementing virtual point-of-sale technology to enhance in-store transactions in conjunction with eCommerce initiatives
InfoSys – Enables Smart & Final to integrate multiple technology systems
Shipt – With Delivered by Shipt integrated, Smart & Final offers a streamlined, start-to-finish same-day delivery option
Tata Consultancy Services – Delivers retail expertise to Smart & Final’s digital commerce business operations
TForce – Caters to Smart & Final’s business customers with customized logistics solutions for same-day and pre-scheduled single and multiple bulk shipments

“Today’s grocers are at risk of losing their shopper relationships. Many have unknowingly given up control over the one thing they can’t afford to lose – ownership of the digital shopping experience,” said Sylvain Perrier, President and CEO, Mercatus. “Smart & Final has taken the bold step of reclaiming its online presence, to serve, nurture and retain its valued shoppers. With assistance from our expansive network of technology partners, we’re excited to work with Smart & Final to offer online shopping in ways that positively affect not only its bottom line, but also control over its digital future.”