REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – YottaMark, Inc. announced today that it has acquired substantially all the assets of ShopWell Solutions, Inc. (ShopWell), the million shopper-strong personalized food information company. YottaMark will integrate the ShopWell team into its HarvestMark Insights group, and ShopWell’s hugely popular website and mobile applications will become YottaMark branded properties.
The ShopWell app, which has over a million downloads, helps people make smart decisions about the food they eat. Personalized results show easy-to-understand food scores and recommend foods based on the shopper’s specific dietary needs. At home or in the store, shoppers simply scan a food's barcode to get nutrition information and find out if the food is a good match. The recommendation engine technology is powered by patent-pending algorithms designed by Registered Dietitians and statisticians, and draws on guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the latest peer reviewed research. Its tremendous popularity and high level of engagement among shoppers brings a significant new community of users to the HarvestMark platform. The combination of ShopWell and HarvestMark will provide a single source of trusted information to shoppers throughout the grocery store, and dramatically expand the Shopper Insights crowd.
Today, HarvestMark’s applications engage shoppers with information about fresh food and measure quality and freshness at critical points throughout the supply chain. HarvestMark applications have been adopted by leading players in fresh food such as Driscoll’s, Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, and Tanimura & Antle to bring advanced analytics that support decision-making for growing sales, building shopper loyalty, and reducing waste.
HarvestMark pioneered the use of traceability to engage with shoppers in store and at home, providing a wide range of information and gathering feedback. Shoppers increasingly want information they can trust and that is relevant to them, and their feedback fills a critical gap in brand owners’ knowledge: what shoppers like and dislike about products – and what is driving those characteristics.
“This acquisition anchors HarvestMark’s strategy as the leading provider of trusted information about food, and provides a critical channel to reach shoppers across the entire grocery store”, said Elliott Grant, YottaMark’s Founder & CTO. He added, “a producer will now be able to determine which characteristics drive preference and repeat purchase. A retailer will have the ability to rapidly measure how merchandizing, store operations or supply decisions are affecting shopper satisfaction. In today’s highly competitive food market – this edge provided by shopper insights can make the difference between a profitable product and failure.”
HarvestMark will deepen and broaden the ShopWell user experience, by adding rich information about fresh produce – which will further grow the user base, and help drive consideration of fresh produce as a healthy option. ShopWell users will also have the opportunity to provide their feedback to food producers and retailers, closing the loop between consumers and suppliers, and helping make the world a better place to eat.
About HarvestMark
HarvestMark® is the industry-leading fresh food insights and traceability platform from YottaMark, Inc. HarvestMark solutions deliver transparency and unmatched insights into the fresh supply chain that drive sales and profit. HarvestMark PTI supports industry standard case- and pallet-level traceability. HarvestMark Connect extends the platform to individual sales units- driving loyalty by connecting farm to fork, speeding food safety communication, and reconnecting shoppers with the people who grow and sell their food. HarvestMark Insights provides on-demand tools and analytics to help optimize quality and freshness. To date, more than 5 billion packages of fresh food have been enabled with HarvestMark traceability, from the produce aisle to the meat case. Visit HarvestMark.com or ShopWell.com or call us at call 1-866-76-TRUST (or +1.650.264.6200). For more information about YottaMark, Inc., visit www.YottaMark.com.
Source: HarvestMark