Online Food Shopping and Ordering
SmartChoice invented online shopping and ordering for food pantries. After many years developing customized software solutions specifically for food pantries, in March of 2014 we launched the first ever online client shopping platform designed exclusively for food pantries. For the first time ever, food pantry clients could shop for food from the convenience of their homes via mobile devices and computers. Clients, who up until that point, weren’t able to visit food pantries in-person because of work / life schedule conflicts with standard pantry operating hours, or lack of physical mobility, or stigma-related concerns, could now shop in complete privacy from home or work, at any time they wished day or night, and enjoy the same dignified experience as anyone else would have in today’s modernized world of online shopping.
In the decade plus since its introduction, SmartChoice’s online food shopping and ordering software has continued to add an ever-expanding set of new features and functionality to lead innovation and improve the lives of people experiencing food insecurity. Through added direct software integrations with our vast partner network, SmartChoice is able to offer not just choice of food, but also choice of food order fulfillment, including: curbside and in-pantry pickup; 24/7 access refrigerated locker pickup; home delivery; and more-localized neighborhood satellite pickup locations such as schools, community centers, libraries, fire stations, churches and more.
While shopping on the SmartChoice online platform, shoppers are only shown food and other non-food pantry items that are currently in inventory – updated in real time with the SmartChoice inventory management system – so that if an item is not available, the client never has to experience the disappointment of unknowingly selecting an out-of-stock item which they don’t receive at order pickup (or home delivery).
Pantry items are categorized and displayed in easy to find and recognizable shopping categories based on the USDA’s MyPlate recommendations. However, a food pantry can change categories from MyPlate to whatever shopping categories are desired, as everything is fully-configurable.
Shoppers can also search for pantry items by name, as well as filter food items according to both individualized nutritional preferences as well as dietary restrictions. Previous orders are also accessible by shoppers to see what they ordered before, and if desired, select any of those same items – if currently available in inventory.
The pantry can also configure collections of food in virtual “baskets”, known as Quick Trip™, to make shopping faster and easier – and allow for pantries to recommend groups of items to shoppers. Quick Trip virtual basket examples include: Thanksgiving (and other holiday) baskets, What’s New baskets, Healthy Eating baskets, etc. – essentially whatever the pantry can think of to make things easier for the shopper as well as operationally more efficient for the pantry.
Pantries can also choose to employ a significant degree of integrated nutritional enhancement features available to them through SmartChoice’s Food is Medicine functionality, such as dietary indicators (e.g.- vegan, gluten-free, low sodium, kosher, halal, etc.), nutritional scoring (0-100 scale) of food items and associated prioritizations in the client shopping interface display – with optional visual stoplight indicators (green, yellow, red) as to nutritional value. Pantries can also activate various nutritional nudges and interventions, such as automated healthy swap items, in which SmartChoice will automatically gently suggest healthier items, such as brown rice, if white rice for example is first selected.
Everything within SmartChoice’s online client shopping and ordering interface is fully configurable by pantry staff via a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use and intuitive administrative interface. Certain pantry items can even be tagged and reserved for specific customizable groups of pantry clients, such as TEFAP, households with babies (e.g.- diapers and baby formula), households with seniors, etc. These customizable groups can be set for either manual enrollment or automatic enrollment using data triggers such as date of birth (e.g.- presence of babies or seniors).
Bottom line is that each food pantry is different, and after decades of experience working exclusively with food pantries, SmartChoice recognizes that, and thus, we have designed everything about the SmartChoice online client shopping and ordering software system to be 100% customizable by your food pantry to function in whatever manner you choose and in a way that works best with your agency’s operations.
Schedule a Demo
For more information and/or to view a live demo of SmartChoice’s online shopping and ordering software in action and how specifically this functionality could work for your food pantry contact a SmartChoice representative now.