Mysupermarket

mySupermarket

Type	Private
Industry	Retail, Ecommerce
Founded	2006
Products	Groceries
Website	www.mysupermarket.co.uk

mySupermarket.co.uk is an internet based supermarket shopping and comparison website in the United Kingdom. It enables users to shop from four supermarkets on one site. With mySupermarket, users can fill a virtual trolley or compile a printable shopping list with Tesco.com, Asda, Sainsbury's Online or Ocado. They can then compare prices, calories and supermarkets and swap products or supermarkets within the site. mySupermarket claims to be able to cut a weekly shopping bill by up to 20%.^[1]

History

mySupermarket.co.uk launched as a supermarket shopping and price comparison site in October 2006. It analyses for its users the products in each trolley and suggests swapping some of the shopper’s chosen items for others. In addition, it compares the entire price of the trolley between the four supermarkets and allows the user to switch to one of the other supermarkets, before sending the trolley off to the chosen supermarket^[2].

In September 2007, mySupermarket.co.uk launched its Health Checker feature. The Health Checker is based on the Food Standard Authority’s approved 'traffic light' system to allow shoppers to see at a glance if the food they plan on putting into their trolley is high, medium or low in salt, fat, saturated fats or sugars. In addition to comparing food during a shopping session, the Health Checker scans the trolley and suggests swapping items for healthier alternatives^[3].

mySupermarket has a “Print List”^[4] feature, which is designed for people not wishing to shop online, who want to prepare an improved shopping list.

In November 2008, a new feature was added to this list, allowing it to be split across two supermarkets, showing the best deals from each. Also in November 2008, the mySupermarket Quick Shop function was added, allowing users to type their shopping list on a virtual notepad and find their required items in one go.

In January 2008, mySupermarket.co.uk launched a data service, offering retailers, manufacturers and analysts’ insight into its price comparison data and sales data.

Corporate Affairs

mySupermarket Limited is a private company, owned by a group of investors and mySupermarket.co.uk employees. In May 2007, mySupermarket.co.uk received a £3 million boost from venture capitalist firms, Greylock Partners^[5] and Pitango. These funds were earmarked for structured marketing of the site to increase its regular users^[6].

Like other online shopping price comparison sites, mySupermarket.co.uk does not charge users anything to use the site. However, it differs from other comparison sites in that it is fully impartial and compares current prices between all online supermarkets without favouring any of the retailers.^{[citation needed]} Their 2007 investment was used to launch an advertising feature on the site which was targeted at retailers and food manufacturers. Sponsored information is clearly separated from the neutral^[7].

Notes

1. ^ Jill Papworth on cutting your supermarket bill | Money | The Guardian. Money.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
2. ^ Cheaper home-delivery shopping. This is Money (2007-07-20). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
3. ^ FSA approves mySupermarket's 'health checker'. Retail.bizcommunity.com (2007-10-10). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
4. ^ Supermarket Shopping: Downshift & more, halve weekly bills. Moneysavingexpert.com (2009-11-03). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
5. ^ Greylock Partners – News. Greylock.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
6. ^ Gaelle Walker, New funds to drive growth of price comparison website, The Grocer, 2007-05-19
7. ^ Grocery site gets funding boost – Business News, Business – The Independent. News.independent.co.uk (2007-05-14). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.

External links

• mySupermarket Website
• mySupermarket Insights Website