Local tech company helping residents save thousands on grocery spending
Posted Feb 8, 2020 05:45:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If you're looking to save more money on your grocery bill, one app can help.
Waterloo start-up, reebee, is a digital platform helping residents find a good deal for items on their shopping list in the midst of rising food prices.
Tobiasz Dankiewicz and Michal Martyniak are the co-founders of reebee.
Dankiewicz says by cross-referencing flyers from multiple grocery stores in the region, users can search through the app for specific products to find the best price.
“Let's say you've run out of laundry detergent and you need some Tide.” said Dankiewicz. “Instead of rummaging through 30 or 40 flyers at the door, you can just go in and search for Tide on reebee and we'll show you everybody that has it on sale in your market.”
By taking out the work of having to scour multiple flyers, the app provides a paperless option to flyers and can help create grocery shopping lists.
A family of four that uses the app can save close to $4,000 per year on groceries.
“Our goal is to help Canadians shop smarter.” said Martyniak.
According to Martyniak, there's no purchase required to use the app.
“It's free to download onto Andriod and IOS.”
Dankiewicz and Martyniak, graduates from the University of Waterloo, got the idea to create reebee while living away from home.
“I never enjoyed overspending and I always wanted to make sure that I was getting the best deal for the money I was spending.” said Dankiewicz. “You'd have to seek out that information on many different avenues.”
Matryniak says their experiences delivering flyers as kids helped to shape their service as well.
He says one thing he learned back then was that Canadians love flyers.
“We saw it even back in our flyer delivery days.” said Martyniak, “If we were a little bit late because of something at school, our regulars would ask 'why is this late?' And when it rained they got angry if the flyer was wet.”
“The historic experience that we had as kids –our passion for getting a good deal– kind of wove together what us as consumers would really like to use [while grocery shopping.]”
Through the University of Waterloo's Velocity start-up program, they launched their app in 2012.
Now, the app helps over 1.6 million users per month find the best deals.
Both creators say their business's success was made possible by the support of start-up programs in Waterloo Region.
“When we went through these programs, they were a lot smaller.” said Martyniak, “It's really great to see these programs thriving and supporting other start-ups. Over the years, we've seen these programs grow and we're really excited to continue to be involved.”
Going forward, Dankiewicz and Martyniak say the company will continue to adjust the app to make it more customizable to the user and their lifestyle.
“If you're a vegetarian, there's no need for you to see or to be advertised prime rib steak as the top product in the grocery flyers,” said Dankiewicz, “If you're a young parent, you're more likely to engage with diapers and baby products. If you do not have kids, you're not going to be engaging with those products.”
Planning your next shopping trip? Interested residents can check out reebee here.
