Supermarket price comparison website Zollo Ltd. has raised $900,000 from Nielson Innovate, the Israeli investment arm of Nielsen Holdings NV (NYSE: NLSN) and Partam Hi-Tech, the private investment fund. of Igal Ahouvi.
Nielsen Holdings owns 51% of Nielson Innovate, and Partam Hi-Tech owns 49%. Nielson Innovate, founded in 2013, manages $30 million for investment in market research, consumer behavior, data analytics, marketing and advertising solutions, campaign effectiveness measurement, big data, social, mobile and new media.
Zollo's concept is based on crowdsourcing: consumers use their smartphones to photograph goods at supermarkets, and upload the data, enabling price comparison with nearby supermarkets. Before shopping, a user can prepare a shopping list by clicking on the site to find which stores have the cheapest prices in the area.
The advantage is that the price comparison is personal and immediate, rather than based on occasional media reports about popular consumer items. Zollo CEO Daniel Reiner says that the system already covers 900 stores in Israel, and allows personalized price comparison of the confusing sales offered by supermarkets.
"In the current crowdsourcing era for the social sharing of information, consumers can help each other through Zollo with their shopping," says Nielson Innovate CEO Esther Barak-Landes. "Supermarkets and stores can also compare their prices with their competitors and lower prices to stay competitive, benefiting consumers twice over."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 10, 2013
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