Albert Heijn launches new version of Appie

Zaandam, March 3, 2010 – Four months after the introduction of Appie for the iPhone in November 2009, Albert Heijn is launching a new version, Appie 1.5. The Appie service helps customers make their shopping lists. The new version enables customers to sort their shopping lists according to the most common walking route in their own Albert Heijn store, making shopping for groceries even easier. From today, users can share recipes by e-mail or Twitter, and they can also add their own recipes.

Users’ wishes:
After just one day back in November, Appie had become number 1 in the top free applications. More than two months later, Appie is still in the top 25, with many iPhone owners downloading the service each day. The average user rating for the new application is high, and users actively contribute ideas for further development. Users can make their wishes known through a variety of media like the App Store, Twitter, blogs, ah.nl and through Appie itself. Sorting groceries according to the route used in the store is one of the wishes users mentioned most.

Walking routes of all stores:
With the latest version of Appie, customers can sort the groceries on their lists according to the most common walking route in their own Albert Heijn store. If this route is different to the customer’s own route, he or she can easily modify it. The walking routes in all of the more than 800 stores were identified in order to make this new service possible. Products and terms have also been linked in Appie. Albert Heijn is very interested to know what its customers think of this new service and hopes to receive plenty of feedback from users, so that ‘walking route’ can be perfected further. Another new feature is that users can now add their own recipes in Appie. The ingredients for a favorite meal can now be added to the shopping list at the touch of a button.

Android expansion:
Appie is currently being developed for the Android operating system, so that it will be available for other smartphones in the second quarter of 2010. Customers will also be able to use Appie at ah.nl later this year.

Appie:
Appie is a free service of Albert Heijn, which helps customers to make shopping lists. Previous purchases, Bonus offers and other groceries can easily be added to the shopping list in Appie. Appie also contains over 8,500 recipes, including recipes from AllerHande magazine. The recipe finder helps customers decide what to cook, and the ingredients for a selected recipe can easily be added to the list. The groceries can be crossed off the list in the store. The service was first released in November 2009 for the iPhone. Albert Heijn would like to know what customers think of Appie and what else they would like to see in the application. Therefore tips can be mailed to appie@ah.nl.