Date: Mar 07, 2011 Author: press release Source: PRNewswire (
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Top 10 Produce LLC today announced the launch of LocaleTM, a strawberry brand that is a 100% percent traceable to the farm of origin. Each Locale Salinas Valley strawberry grower has a product label that can be scanned with ShopSavvy®, the No. 1 shopping app for smartphone users, to display a mobile profile controlled by the grower. The grower profile includes information about the farmer, a map of the location where the product was grown, links to the farmer's Facebook and Twitter accounts and more.
"While Salinas Valley produce is considered locally grown by San Francisco foodies, the Locale brand is not just about local -- it's about transparency," said John Bailey, Top 10 Produce executive director. "Transparent branding means explaining where the produce comes from and how it was grown. Consumers have the opportunity to become personally acquainted with the real grower and the grower's family. The actual grower serves as the spokesperson for the brand, as opposed to a cartoon character, as has often been the case with produce brands of the past."
"ShopSavvy has always focused on enabling the shopper to make better purchase decisions, and this is the latest example of this," said Alexander Muse, co-founder of ShopSavvy. "Consumers are increasingly demanding to know where the food they buy comes from, and Top 10 Produce is taking a leadership role in providing this information to sustainability-conscious grocery shoppers."
Grower profiles are displayed via ShopSavvy's AdOns® advertising framework, which enables "hyper relevant" advertising, coupons, warranty offers, promotions and other information to be delivered at the point of highest purchase intent, when users are standing in a retail store with a potential purchase in hand. AdOns combine location- and product-specific data to deliver precise marketing content to users.
When consumers scan a Locale label with ShopSavvy, they will see a profile like this one, from C & R Farms: http://www.kyf2.me/ca/0004
While currently this information is available only for Locale brand strawberries, Top 10 Produce LLC will soon offer this service to any brand that is selling produce supplied by growers licensed by Top 10 Produce LLC. ShopSavvy will then work with these brands to deliver "hyper relevant" offers and advertising to shoppers.
Wholesale buyers interested in sourcing Locale may contact the growers' sales agent, Chip Fratangelo at Buy Health* America Fresh Foods Inc., by calling (831) 759-0706. Independent growers can learn more about the program at http://www.top10produce.com/
About Top 10 Produce
Top 10 Produce LLC gives small and midsize farms the ability to use barcodes to put their farm's story in front of consumers at the point of sale. Shoppers are already using cell phones to verify value and authenticity as they make purchase decisions. Top 10 Produce LLC's program uses the same barcodes used at the store checkout promote the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program and to comply with the traceability requirements of the Food Safety Enhancement act, passed into law in January 2011. Top 10's point of sale grower-specific marketing can include pictures or video of the actual farmer (and their family), and detailed information on growing practices.
About ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy is a personal shopping companion for smartphone users. The application enables consumers to scan the UPC, EAN or QR barcodes of products they want to buy and do immediate, in-store price comparisons with local and online retailers. ShopSavvy has emerged as one of the most celebrated and widely embraced shopping apps for Android, the iPhone, Nokia and Windows smartphones, with more than 10 million users performing millions of scans monthly. ShopSavvy's price comparison engine includes up-to-date pricing and inventory information on more than 20 million products. Product data comes from retailers as well as Wikipedia-style crowdsourcing from ShopSavvy users, who can add their own deals, discoveries, ratings and reviews to the database. For advertisers, ShopSavvy now offers AdOns -- highly targeted advertising, coupons, warranty offers, and promotions at the point of highest purchase intent, when users are standing in a retail store with a potential purchase in hand. AdOns combine location- and product-specific data to deliver precise marketing content to users. For more information about ShopSavvy Inc., visit http://shopsavvy.mobi.
