
AnyLeaf (YC S10) — Putting an End to the Old Supermarket Circular - dirtae
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2011/03/29/anyleaf-putting-an-end-to-the-supermarket-circular/?single_page=true
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qeorge
I would actually use this. I'd love you if you suggested recipes based on
what's on sale nearby.

Nit: you're not available in my area (27605), and you made me enter my email
to find that out. If this wasn't a YC company I was curious about, I would
have bounced.

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physcab
I'm not sure how useful it is yet. I've looked at the website quite a bit and
have downloaded the IPhone app.

On one hand, its true that certain places are known for good deals for certain
items. If there is a specific cleaner I buy for my house, it doesn't matter
which store it comes from as long as it's the cheapest.

But food is different. I'm more concerned about quality, shelf life, ease of
shopping experience, and availability. There's probably a reason why
strawberries at CVS cost $1 vs $3-$5 at Whole Foods. However, if there is a
Farmers Market 2 days later and they sell strawberries for $5 - $10, I'd hold
out and pay the higher price because I want to support the community and I
know the strawberries might actually be better.

Maybe there is a way you can tap into the social consciousness. For example,
my mom is very proud of her ability to compromise quality and price. She will
tell me something like "go Safeway to buy bread items, but go to Nob Hill if
you want meats".

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krsgoss
Pretty interesting. I would definitely use this if it was in my market. I
don't bother using circulars given the hassle of searching, comparing, and
clipping. I'm also not a fan of how much they contribute to the junk mail
epidemic we have.

There's a lot of interesting data to be consumed here if you can collect it
from the various chains and regions. Good luck!

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fido
I just signed up and was bombarded with Chef Boyardee, Kraft Mac/Cheese, Oscar
Mayer injected/processed meats, etc.

I'm a price-sensitive Whole Foods and Trader Joe's shopper in Palo
Alto/Mountain view and would love to have great sale notifications from these
locations.

Also, most of my friends are the same way. Food at these locations is
expensive and we aren't super wealthy so pricing is really painful sometimes.

Either way, great job. I love the site/app/idea and this space is ready for an
idea like yours. Cheers!

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joshstaiger
You can hide items and product categories you’ll never eat.

I hate eating processed foods, too. Just click the hide buttons next to those
categories (Snacks, Canned Foods, et all), and you won’t see them again.

Unfortunately we don’t have Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods yet, though :(

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cing
I feel like there is a big opportunity for a mobile grocery shopping app. I
don't want something to help me make a grocery list, I want something to hold
and geek out with while I'm shopping to make informed decisions.

Often I visit the farmers market and I haven't a clue what a good deal produce
is. No fliers involved. I want plots of average prices in the correct units.
Are the prices lower than average for this season? I want to know how to pick
good/ripe produce.

AnyLeaf looks like a good step in that direction...

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dirtae
If you look at the page for an individual item on our website then we show you
some historical pricing information. For example, if you visit:

<http://www.anyleaf.com/product/navel-oranges>

Then you'll see that 25 cents / lb is the low price we've seen, 97 cents / lb
is the most common sale price, and so on.

This data is only available on our website and isn't in the iPhone app yet,
but we'll be adding it to the app in an update.

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ams6110
I'm not interested in getting an email of what's on sale any more than I am in
getting the paper circulars. I shop when I need food and when I have time, and
I make price/product decisions on the spot in the store. Thumbing through
circulars and clipping coupons is not how I want to spend my time. At all.

However if services like this do lead to the end of the junk-mail weekly
circulars, I will be happy about that at least.

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dirtae
We hear you, and that's why we just launched our iPhone app. It's a bit buried
in this article, but it's mentioned about halfway through. The app makes a
great complement to our website, allowing you to view a shopping list created
on the web on your phone, but it's also useful by itself, without using our
website or email.

[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anyleaf/id424688443?mt=8&...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anyleaf/id424688443?mt=8&ls=1)

Also, the deals that we show you in our email are the very best deals (we
compare to historical prices to identify them) and are personalized for you
(you can hide categories and individual products). We hated thumbing through
the traditional circulars, so we're trying to eliminate that pain by showing
you directly relevant deals.

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ams6110
I tend to be pretty loyal to one supermarket (chain and location); it's on my
usual commute, I like their produce, and I know where everything is. Saving a
few dollars by going to another store, has an overall negative ROI for me.
Does this offer me anything then, or are you really targeting the folks who
will shop wherever the absolute best prices are that week.

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joshstaiger
It's useful (at least for me) even if you only go to one store.

We use historical data to judge how good the sales are for items at any given
time — and it’s surprising how much variation there is week to week.

Usually when I shop, I’m looking to get fresh meat and produce of some sort.
If salmon is steeply discounted this week, I’ll spring for that vs chicken
breast that is only slightly discounted from the norm.

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zach
I love this! CouponMom is a nightmare (especially on mobile) but has great
data so I slog through it. Anything would be better, but this looks
_excellent_.

I always wonder where to go for my next fix of Diet Coke 12-packs, so I can't
wait for AnyLeaf to come to LA.

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dirtae
Glad you like it!

Figuring out where to stock up on soda is one of our most popular use cases.
Diapers too.

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jon914
This is pretty neat, and I'd definitely use this once it expanded to cover the
stores I visit (WF, TJ's, Target) and a broader range of items. The one
pitfall for the current market is that stores that don't run circulars or
stores for which the circulars are harder to scrape are important but harder
to get at.

For example, Whole Foods and TJ's are substantial players in the Bay Area
market as well as discount stores like Target where there's a mix of the
everyday low price model and sales on loss leaders. What are your plans to
tackle stores like those?

Overall, this is a good start, and I look forward to seeing this fleshed out
more.

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dirtae
We support grocery items at Target right now. In the future we'll expand our
coverage to include household goods like toilet paper, paper towels, and soap.
One non-grocery item that we already cover is diapers, due to popular demand.

Trader Joe's is tricky because they don't have a traditional weekly ad. They
do have the Fearless Flier, which includes some pricing information, so we may
be able to use that as a source of information. Eventually we'd like to work
directly with stores, and if we could do that with Trader Joe's it would be
huge.

Whole Foods does offer a list of weekly deals on their website. However, they
often use their deals to promote unique / novelty items like salmon candy and
"meatloaf cupcakes". If there is enough demand, then we'll add Whole Foods.

Right now we're focusing on the low-hanging fruit of stores that have a
traditional weekly ad. The complete list of Bay Area stores that we support
is: Safeway, Lucky, Nob Hill, Raley's, Target, Walgreens, and CVS.

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jon914
Thanks for the clarification. I missed the Target inclusion on the basic
things I was looking for because it's based on the circular, which has fairly
little in the way of food items.

With Whole Foods, the best (and most pragmatic) deals they offer aren't at all
on their website and must be tracked in store. I think that there is a market
for including Whole Foods, not in the novelty items, but in comparing
natural/organic commodities that are popular enough to be carried by Target,
Safeway and even Costco. On those fronts, WF is frequently the cheapest.

Do you have plans to, perhaps, crowdsource some of the price reporting similar
to how gas price comparison sites are done?

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jayzee
It is a nice idea with a large potential. A challenge that comes to mind is
that right now the older folks cut coupons etc. And the younger ones surf for
deals on the internet. There is an overlap in the two sets but it is small.

One suggestion would be to pick a city/area where more people are into coupons
and circulars and start from there. I feel that places where old peeps hang
out (Florida) as opposed to Sunnyvale? might be better hunting grounds.

Sounds promising though!

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hariis
Is scraping data from the stores' site legal? Even if it is, is it a viable
approach?

Edit: Is there a way you could work with the stores to get the deals directly?

