Natick man’s GrocerSave app aims to help you find deals, make shopping easier – Natick Report

Even with grocery prices at their highest since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Natick’s Gabriel Ha said he’s planning his newly released GrocerSave food shopping plan ahead of time.

“I wouldn’t say that the occurrence of COVID was the cause of changing the timeline of the project, but there were times – shortage of baby milk, high prices of eggs in the past – where I was like a man , who has something like this out there would probably be very good for the community,’” says Ha, a first-time entrepreneur who has been working full-time on the app for more than two years. .got the idea for the app about six years ago.

GrocerSave is a free app that continues to help people check grocery prices and compare unit costs for products initially at stores in Natick and the surrounding area (we’ve played with a test version on the iPhone). . The goal is to help people make informed decisions, save money and reduce the stress of shopping.

It has a development team that respects the product, which ensures that it works well on different mobile platforms.

The idea grew out of Ha’s own frustration with the time-consuming process of trying to comparison shop across the many stores in the area to help stretch his family’s budget. Because of his background in software development and product management at major tech outfits like MathWorks and Microsoft, He saw an opportunity to create a software solution that leveraged his grocery store inventory. organized in many functions with many tools from users to save. current app.

“Our app helps users create and manage their shopping lists, perform price calculations to ensure they’re getting the best value, and can provide product placement in the store to make shopping trips more efficient. buy more success,” When you say.

This program has come a long way since it was a “difficult spreadsheet” When you first used to track prices.

In the future, the app will give users the option to slice and dice data in new ways, such as splitting grocery lists between two stores and showing the difference in costs to shop at the same location. nothing. The user can decide if the storage is sufficient to authorize two trips.

“I want to make sure that the app can help someone no matter what their shopping experience is,” he says.

A Natick father of two young children notices that people shop for groceries in different ways—some choose to do it all at once, others shop at different stores for the best prices on essential proteins and other items, and many came out in bulk. pick up a few items at one store or more a week. In the last case, Ha says: “the difference in price even in small items of tickets may be so important that it may require a few minutes of research.”

Even for those who are used to doing one big store, within that system there are those who want to complete their list in one store and there are those who look at the prices of important things (say proteins) and then they make their purchase plans from there. . GrocerSave can help in any situation, you say.

Personally, Ha and his family often shop at Market Basket in Ashland, then make other trips to different stores depending on what’s on sale and how cheap they are (to save and logical freezing). He still mourns the departure of Wegmans from the Natick Mall last year.

Among the surprises for Ha during his research on grocery prices is that you can find international food, say vegetable bok choy, for less at Roche Bros. He also learned that there are deals to be had at certain stores at general retailers like Walmart and Target.

He refers to Natick as a “natural test market” for his device because there is real price competition among more and more stores. The app is free for users, and does not look to monetize it by attracting sellers.

Users are encouraged to join the official GrocerSave Discord channel to connect with Ha and app developers, interact with other users, and share ideas.

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