Putting the store in the spotlight

James Widdowson, group sales and marketing director at Appy Shop said he wants to empower convenience retailers.

Appy Shop has introduced a new white labelling service o­ffering retailers a bespoke app solution

HOME delivery app provider Appy Shop will not be hogging the limelight in 2022, as its latest launch seeks to put retailers front and centre on their shoppers’ phones.

That’s the view of James Widdowson, group sales and marketing director at Appy Shop, who said the brand’s new white-labelling proposition puts the spotlight back onto individual c-stores.

Appy Shop’s new service is a straightforward pitch. The home-delivery brand will now offer retailers the chance to have an app under their store name, with their branding, as well as a bespoke website. “The way I look at it is consumers know those stores in their local area far greater than they do a third party brand,” said Widdowson.

“We’ll continue to market Appy Shop, but if the retailer chooses then we’re giving them the option to promote their own brand, with all the same functionality and features.

“Everything is the same, but white labelled and customised.” Widdowson reckons the opportunity to offer customers a branded delivery app will be attractive to retailers, giving them the option to work at building their own brand rather than promoting a third-party.

Describing the new service as “empowering”, Widdowson said the white labelling process is simple for retailers, with the Appy Shop team doing the legwork on the technical side.

“We do it all for them, that’s the beauty of it.

“They obviously have to sign up for the Appy Shop platform, but this is an additional service they can choose to take on. We will register their store’s app for them, we will do all the design work.”

In terms of the app itself, Widdowson said it essentially runs as the normal Appy Shop app, but with the store’s branding and colour scheme visible throughout.

“Only if you scroll right to the bottom of the page will you see anything with ‘Appy Shop’,” he said. One of the key benefits of this, according to Widdowson, is that it allows retailers to benefit from all the established Appy Shop features, but under their stores own branding.

Widdowson highlighted in app features such as the ability for consumers to save favourites, as well as re-ordering previous baskets, as key to Appy Shop’s success so far – particularly when it comes to lifting average basket spend.

“We provide the same service you would get with a supermarket.

“You can book a slot for say next Friday and then build your shopping basket over the next week and do your weekly shop.

“We’re capturing top-up shops as well as weekly shops on the one platform. Our average basket spend is around £65 at the moment

“What we’re bringing to the table is options and revenue streams that the retailer can take advantage of if they choose to,” he said.