KeyStore Partners With Online Shopping Platform

KeyStore Partners With Online Shopping Platform

Food and drink wholesaler JW Filshill has announced a new partnership with online shopping platform Appy Shop to provide KeyStore retailers with an integrated e-commerce solution that enables them to offer their customers an online shopping platform for delivery and click-and- collect services.

Appy Shop, a mobile app and web-based convenience store home-delivery platform, links directly into a store’s EPoS, so retailers are not required to spend time maintaining a separate product file and pricing structure. The platform also automatically adds detailed product descriptions, imagery, nutritional information, and other key information.

Craig Brown, Filshill’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, said: “We want to offer our KeyStore customers a home-delivery solution that is both cost-effective and easy to use – for them and the people using their stores every day. Appy Shop ticks all the boxes and will provide a valuable service to communities across Scotland and the north of England as lockdown restrictions become more uncertain, the weather gets colder and the demand for home delivery increases.

“We have collaborated with the team at Appy Shop to make this service available to all KeyStore retailers looking for a home-delivery and click and collect solution that is not time-consuming or onerous to operate, yet enables their customers to shop from the comfort of their own home should they not wish to venture out in these unprecedented times.”

Appy Shop’s Group Sales Director, James Widdowson, said: “After launching Appy Shop in February 2019 and going live with the first stores later that year, we have seen the platform gain tremendous traction with retailers across the country who want to enhance the in-store shopping experience with a home-delivery service that meets their needs and those of their customers.

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with JW Filshill, an award-winning wholesaler, to make the service available to its KeyStore estate.”

One of the first KeyStore retailers to sign up to Appy Shop is Sukhdave Basra, owner KeyStore Shortlees in Central Avenue, Kilmarnock. Manager Donna Harrison said: “Appy Shop has given the business the great start in making deliveries to our customers and a chance to grow the business outside our normal routine.

“Appy Shop has an easy-to-use portal that gives you excellent control and the support from the Appy Shop is exceptionally good – the training was great and they answered all our questions. Nothing is too much trouble and this is definitely the right decision for the business.”

In Fife, Audrey Morland, a long-established retailer with a busy store in Leven, has recently joined the KeyStore family and quickly identified Appy Shop as the perfect partner for her home-delivery solution. “We were doing about 30 home deliveries a day in the early months of lockdown and want to continue to provide what is a much-needed service for many of our customers,” she said.

“With local lockdowns in various parts of the country and coronavirus cases increasing again I think it is likely that home delivery will become more popular with customers who might be reluctant to go out as much, particularly with the colder weather on its way.”

Filshill, a fifth-generation wholesaler that over 190 KeyStore convenience stores across Scotland and the north of England, will relocate to a 120,400sqft purpose-built distribution centre at Westway Park near Glasgow Airport in early 2022.