New smart K-ruoka mobile app helps customers at the store and at home

KESKO PRESS RELEASE 05.10.2015 AT 09.00 1(2)

The K-ruoka mobile application offers personal benefits and store specific special offers, a smart shopping list that recommends products frequently bought by the customer, as well as nearly 6,000 recipes with instructions. The app can be downloaded from App Store starting from today.

Special attention has been paid to the ease of use and visual aspects of the app.

- We want to make everyday life easier for customers. The new K-ruoka mobile app offers smart tools for that purpose, says Sales Director Mika Kakko of Kesko's grocery trade division.

The shopping list can be shared between several devices within a K-Plussa card household and the list is updated in real time.

- The app also offers new ideas and inspiration for cooking. The recipe search function includes special diets and the app also suggests the most popular, easy and affordable, topical recipes using seasonal ingredients, says Kakko.

Food shopping for the week is planned on Monday

We asked K-food stores' customers when they planned the meals for the week. The most popular day was Monday with 38 per cent of the votes. The second most popular day was Friday, getting 28 per cent of the votes.

- Previously, K-food store customers received the special offers from their local store by e-mail at the beginning of the week. Now we also offer a mobile app with their personal benefits and the store's other special offers handily displayed and added to the shopping list, says Kakko.

Customer oriented development continues

Kesko's partner in designing and implementing the K-ruoka mobile app has been Futurice, a builder of digital services.

At every stage of the development, customer wishes have been taken into account; in the summer, for example, an inquiry on the matter was conducted among K-Plussa customers. The user experience and user friendliness of the app will also be actively developed further in tandem with customers.

- Applying Futurice's design expertise and agile operating methods with Kesko in this high profile project is a fine example of how a major retail chain known to Finnish people and an agile partner can work together and learn from each other at the same time, says Futurice Business Director Riku Valtasola.

The iOS version of the app is released today. The Windows Phone and Android versions will be released during the autumn.

When do you plan your food shopping for the week?

on Monday (38%)
on Tuesday (7%)
on Wednesday (13%)
on Thursday (25%)
on Friday (28%)
on Saturday (11%)
on Sunday (22%)
I don't plan my food shopping (23%)

The inquiry was conducted among K-food store customers in connection with an electronic customer letter and 6,000 customers answered it. They were given a choice of no more than three days. The inquiry was conducted in September 2015.

Further information:
Sales Director Mika Kakko, Kesko, grocery trade, tel. +358 105 346 620
Business Director Riku Valtasola, Futurice, tel. +358 40 531 8943

K-food retailers, with whom Kesko grocery trade applies the chain business model, are responsible for customer satisfaction at more than 900 K-food stores. K-food store chains are K-citymarket, K-supermarket, K-market and K-extra. K-food stores are the most responsible in the world in their sector. Their strengths also include superior fresh food departments, professional service, the widest selections, Finnish products and Pirkka. K-food stores offer both high quality and favourable prices. K - for shopping to be fun.

Futurice is a fast growing Finnish company that creates both consumer and business services on all technical platforms. Its largest customers include international operators, media houses, device manufacturers and retail companies. Futurice has offices in Berlin, London, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tampere.