Mobile app GoMkt has unveiled a new food shopping platform designed to match deal-seeking New Yorkers with environmentally conscious retailers offering food that could otherwise go to waste.
With an estimated $200 billion of edible food going to waste each year, GoMkt said it aims to help combat a mounting societal problem, while enabling businesses to recoup potentially lost revenue through its discounted ‘flash sales’.
The brand’s first product is a direct-to-consumer platform created for retailers who can create exclusive and immediate sale offers to publish manually or on a recurring basis.
Once an offer is published, GoMkt users can then make a purchase before heading to the retailer to collect their items. Transactions are completed electronically.
GoMkt said that aside from the savings – and contributing to the reduction of food waste – “consumers benefit from the app by connecting with their favourite stores to easily find discounts and specialty items, as well as discovering new locations”.
Matthew Holtzman, founder of GoMkt, said: “The growing problem of food waste is difficult to solve for myriad reasons including logistics, the complexities of perishable items and the lack of a formal market, which is what we are working to help solve – with a simple system for buyers and sellers of surplus inventory to connect and transact.”
Key Food store manager Nidal Hassen believes there is a gap in the market for such an application. “At a time when grocers and food retailers are facing the challenges of today’s shifting retail landscape, GoMkt presents a very practical and invaluable tool designed to support our bottom line as well as our sustainability goals.”
Available for download now in the US, the GoMkt app features an initial group of retailers including: Key Food, Oren’s Daily Roast, Butter Lane Bakery, and By Suzette.
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