Longo’s launches new online e-commerce store
Longo’s and its e-commerce service, Grocery Gateway, are now one, online.
In what Longo’s calls a “unification” of the two brands’ websites, Longos.com has become the home for all Grocery Gateway products and services. The website has a new look and customers now have a single sign-in for all the retailer’s products and services including its rewards program, Thank You Rewards; recipes; Loft cooking classes; and placing orders for pickup or delivery.
The website will also include details about online and in-store offers and special events, with an aim to bridge the Longo’s virtual and in-store experience.
“Overall, we are aiming to create similar experiences across our ecosystem for our guests,” says Joseph Longo, VP of e-commerce and real estate at Longo’s. “Our new unified commerce supports that and brings the brands together.”
Having a single digital platform will “unlock additional value” for both customers and the business, adds Longo. Specifically, the move will allow Longo’s to grow market share; improve and modernize the digital customer experience to drive engagement and conversion rates; and align marketing and media efforts under a single brand, among other benefits.
The process took 18 months and included gathering insights about customer needs and the guest experience; partnering with a technology vendor to help bring Longo’s vision to life and take the platform into the cloud; and bringing together cross-functional teams and partners to build out the products and services.
“We had design phases, extensive testing from content to orders to checkout, with feedback all along the way from both our guests and our internal stakeholders,” says Longo. “It was a good process because we spent the time to get it right. We continue to listen to feedback so we keep getting better.”
The unification doesn’t spell the end for the Grocery Gateway brand, though. “The two brands were already well connected... We have a new look that combines the Longo’s logo and the ‘delivered by Grocery Gateway elements,” says Longo. “More specifically for Grocery Gateway, we have retained the elements that are most meaningful to our guests: the name, green colour and the ‘little G’ truck.”
