Countdown adds online shopping to mobile app

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Countdown’s digital shopping developments includes its Rototuna store, which has a safety robot and the capability to fulfil more than 2,500 online orders.

Supermarket chain Countdown is adding online grocery shopping to its existing mobile app.

The chain, which previously offered online shopping only via its website, said online shopping would now available on its myCountdown mobile app and would be able to be used nation-wide.

Its rival Foodstuffs also offers online shopping via its Pak’nSave and New World websites and via the New World app, but only in the North Island.

Sally Copland, Countdown’s general manager of brand and its digital team, CountdownX, said that over lockdown there had been more than 200,000 new registrations for online shopping, which had prompted the company to step up its in-app shopping feature for nationwide use.

The MyCountdown app now allows for online shopping.

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At the end of March, 7.9 per cent of Countdown’s sales were online, and for the last week of March, as lockdown began, it increased to 11 per cent of sales.

Copland said when the MyCountdown app was launched in 2018, it was largely to help customers find items and build simple shopping lists.

“Times have changed and mobile is the device of choice for almost all of us, for almost everything,’’ she said.

''Making purchasing seamless from the app no matter where you live is a critical part of providing a world-class online shopping experience and that’s what we want for all Kiwis.’’

Copland said the digital team was now working on options to share shopping lists across accounts so people had the ability to collaborate on their household needs.

Other features in the app include store layouts, personalised specials, a digital OneCard, and access to Countdown's virtual assistant, Olive.

Countdown first entered the e-commerce sphere in 1996 when orders could be made via fax.

The company has also recently opened its first ‘’dark store’’ or dedicated eStore in Penrose, Auckland, and introduced Olive, which held 300,000 ''customer conversations'' in April.

Last month it also launched Kai, a ''safety robot,'' at its Rototuna store which roams the aisles looking for hazards such as spills and then alerts staff.