Food retailers go mobile for consumers on the move

As mobile web browsing gathers momentum, top food and wellness retailers in the US are jumping on the bandwagon with launches of mobile websites for people to browse online from their personal mobile devices.

The popular e-commerce site Vitacost.com, which markets health and wellness products, including dietary supplements, personal care products, sports nutrition and health foods, this week announced the launch of a version of its website in a mobile optimized format. Customers can shop, view their account and search any of the site's over 28,000 health and wellness products by brand or category. The m-commerce site, which is built by Usablenet Inc., will also provide a shopping cart, order status and checkout, which will allow customers to shop any time and anywhere.

The mobile commerce site can be accessed through a redirect by typing in www.vitacost.com in a mobile browser.

Meanwhile, Texas specialty foods retailer Whole Foods Market announced Thursday that it too has joined the fray with a mobile website to cater to customers increasingly on the go. Its new mobile website will include over 2,000 recipes, store hours, a store locator and driving directions, store specials as well as a calendar of events. Shoppers can also create shopping lists and save their recipes to their personal recipe boxes, popular features on Whole Foods' regular website.

http://www.vitacost.com,
http://m.wholefoodsmarket.com