Rimi is the smallest and least popular low cost grocery chain in Norway. They had to grow their market share – in competition with three larger and far cheaper chains. Luckily we discovered that Norwegians value time even more than money. So we decided to position Rimi as “Fast and affordable”. And developed a brand new way of shopping!

Rimi Pluss is a shopping companion that allows families to write and share grocery lists between their computers and handsets. New receipts are added every day, and all the ingredients are added directly to the shopping list. The recent renovation of 270 nearly identical stores even made it possible for Rimi to re-arrange the grocery list in the same order as the products are laid out in store – minimizing the time to pick stuff up and check-out.To drive downloads we launched Rimi Pluss with banner ads on web and mobile, leading to a showcase on rimi.no and m.rimi.no. We used TV to promise customers “more time for everything else” and demonstrate the new utility service. While ads, direct marketing, in-store posters and even the receipt were used to increase awareness of Rimi Pluss.

We’ve also created a Rimi Pluss API that has been integrated by Norway’s largest food-site; enabling their users to add all ingredients in any receipt directly to their grocery list. Rimi’s Facebook page is used for Q&As, inspiration and customer feedback. Based on these ideas, we have launched an improved version of Rimi Pluss with a scanning feature that makes the utility service even easier to use.

Just a few hours after the launch, Rimi Pluss seized pole position in both AppStore and Android Marketplace. In a week we reached our goal of 20.000 downloads, and to date more than 175.000 – or 5 % of Norway’s adult population – has downloaded the Rimi Pluss app!

Visitors to rimi.no has increased in fivefold; rising from 20.000 to more than 100.000 unique visitors per month. And more importantly; we have managed to dramatically increase both brand preference, as well as the number of Rimi customers.Rimi’s revenue is now growing twice as fast as their closest competitors, and three times as fast as the rest of the grocery industry! Already allowing Rimi to overtake their closest competitor.

Because Rimi Plus isn’t just a new mobile app; it’s a marketing vehicle worth talking about.