Sarah Olson
The Daily Cardinal
Students to test new grocery shopping app
The way students buy their groceries at Fresh Madison Market could change with the introduction of a smartphone mobile application that would scan items, track totals and upload data to check out with the touch of a screen.
Fetch Rewards, a Madison-based application creator, launched the testing period for its grocery shopping app Tuesday. The app would function exclusively at Fresh Madison Market.
The mobile app would allow users to scan the item barcodes in the store as they shop, according to Fetch Rewards Founder and CEO Wes Schroll. The application would then track the scanned items and keep a running price total.
“We really do want to reinvent grocery shopping in the traditional sense,” Schroll said. “It’s been done the same way for the past 50 years, and we think that’s kind of amazing that it hasn’t changed for the better.”
The app would also reward customers who purchase items from certain brands Fetch Rewards has partnered with and link them to coupons, Schroll said.
University of Wisconsin-Madison junior Natalie Dillon, who downloaded the app for the beta test, said she thinks the discounts would create incentive to shop at Fresh Madison Market.
“They have so many deals, I don’t know why you wouldn’t use it,” Dillon said.
Schroll said customers bagging items without scanning them is a risk of the app, but Fetch Rewards has security measures in place to prevent theft, including a system of weight comparison at checkout.
Fresh Madison Market Store Director Kristie Maurer said theft is always a concern for the store, but they are confident in the security measures that would be in place.
Maurer said Fresh Madison Market is excited to work with the student-run app team, and the members of the team have been professional and enjoyable to partner with.
Most of the people on the 12-person app team are UW-Madison students, former students or graduates, and he is excited to provide a service to students, Schroll said.
“We have a huge allegiance to this school,” he said. “We’re really excited to be providing something that we really believe will create a lot of value for the student base here.”
Editor’s note: The names of the brands Fetch Rewards plans to partner with have been removed because not all the brands have been confirmed as of September 11, 2013, according to Fetch Rewards Founder and CEO Wes Schroll.
