LONDON, August 18, 2016

As a world first for retail, the Ubamarket™ app locates, purchases and loyalty tracks a supermarket shop with no need for queues. Due for national roll-out in association with leading payment and loyalty solutions supplier HTEC Ltd, part of Universe Group Plc, whose portfolio of stores includes Morrisons, Budgens, Nisa and Spar.

Launching to market today, the app has been developed to launch across HTEC’s extensive group of UK stores in 2016/2017. Ubamarket™’s innovative technology enables the app to be compatible with any store in the UK within three days of store installation.

Ubamarket™ (Patent Pending) is launching to market, as 66% of UK shoppers have said they are frustrated and would potentially stop going to the UK’s 10,308 supermarkets as a result. In a nationally representative survey of over 2,000 UK adults, the following peeves were cited as the nation’s top deterrents from going in-store or shopping online:

Faults with both online and in-store shopping have seen 12.4 million Brits fed up with the supermarket experience. National statistics show:

Over a quarter of UK consumers highlight grocery shopping as their least favourite shopping experience

17.8 million cited long checkout queues as their top deterrent when buying food in-store

69% of UK adults are looking for a solution to combine online efficiency with the benefits of the in-store experience

App stands to restore a deteriorating grocery retail market, with 4.2 million millennials already having reduced the amount of online and in-store food shopping they do and a further 82% who want an online/offline solution

Responding to the UK’s top in-store peeves, Ubamarket™ combines the efficiency of online retail with the benefits of the in-store experience. The iOS app rearranges the products on your shopping list according to their location in-store; tracking each item in order of convenience, total spend, special offers and loyalty points. This is how it works:

Step 1 – Input your shopping list into the Ubamarket™ app

Step 2 – Enter the supermarket and the app will rearrange your shopping list as the items are located in store

Step 3 – Using the app’s scanner, scan item barcodes – including variable barcodes on weighted products – as you go, keeping track of your spend

Step 4 – No queues, simply tap your smartphone on a payment point without the need to unload items to a conveyor belt and re-scan purchases

Will Broome, Founder & CEO of Ubamarket™ said:

“We as consumers are more demanding than ever! I hope Ubamarket™ will be the saviour of the supermarket, and streamline our shopping experience, whilst boosting the footfall for retailers.

Guy Warner, MD of Warner’s Budgens Supermarkets commented:

“I’m delighted to be the first store in the world to offer Ubamarket™ to our Taste Club members and customers. I feel that this revolutionary new app will effectively bridge the gap between online convenience and the in-store experience that Warner’s Budgens shoppers enjoy.