Cellular supermarket to give big chains a run for their money
Berta, a new smart phone application, allows shoppers to scan barcodes, do their shopping anytime, anywhere. 'We will cut the price of the average shopper's basket by 7%, and we'll seize 20% of the retail food market within four years'
There is a new player in Israel's retail food market: Meet Berta, the cellular supermarket.
Berta is a website and smartphone application that allows users to scan the barcodes of items they want to buy, which then arrive at the customer's home via courier.
"Fifty percent of Israelis have smartphones and every smart phone is a 'branch.' We have the potential to reach 3.6 million branches," said Tomer Avnon, who founded Berta along with Mor Lavi and Barak Manver.
"We will sell a range of 6,500 items. We invested NIS 1 million in Berta and will seize 20% of the (retail food) market within four years. But we predict profits of NIS 200 million a year even before that," Avnon declared.
Related stories:
- Gov't to back bill calling for online consumer price databases
Similar applications have already been launched elsewhere in the world. In Israel, the Berta app is compatible with a variety of mobile devices: Android 2 and 4; Galaxy 2 and 3; Motorola Razr and soon – when Apple signs off – the iPhone. Two versions of the Berta website have also been launched, one standard and one customized for smart phones.
Users scan the barcode of the item they want to buy – whether standing in a brick and mortar store or from the app's catalog – and order it from the cellular supermarket. In the word's of Berta's founders: "No checkout clerks, no lines – scan, order, and wait."
Berta's smart phone app: Scan and buy
Berta also says it will reduce the average cost of a trip to the supermarket by 7%. The company promises that its prices will beat the two supermarket chains that operate Internet sites – Mega and Shufersal – but does not guarantee the absolute lowest prices. It also isn't undertaking to match Rami Levy's online prices, claiming that Levy's new online shopping service is a pilot operating on a limited scale.
Nor will Berta offer users the chains' sale prices. However, it plans to run its own sales, as well as special deals from the food companies.
Berta promises to bring prices down by 7% (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
The delivery cost is similar to what supermarkets charge – NIS 25-35, depending on the size of the order. "We don't limit the size of an order and can send out 500 deliveries at once," Avnon said. "Over a certain amount, delivery will be free, but we haven't decided on that amount yet. The delivery arrives within a timeframe that the customer chooses: within four hours, or within a day. An item ordered at night will arrive in the morning between 8 and 10am."
Avnon also said that the app offers customers the chance to add to their shopping list. "They can shop at different times, or combine different lists under the same user name and password. So every member of the household can add items to the shopping list from wherever he is and there will be a single payment."
The actual shopping will be sent out from wholesale warehouses, and service is planned to be available from "Gadera in the south, Hadera in the north, and Jerusalem in the east. Later on, we intend to open (distribution) points in Eilat and in Rosh Hanikra," Avnon explains.
A beta version of Berta – serving a more limited area – is available for download on the company's site and from Google Play.
