Vrouw controleert de schappen in de supermakt

QUISTA

That tasty cheese or those really fresh strawberries from the local farmer, supermarket entrepreneurs are eager to have them in their assortment. But preferably without the hassle of individual phone calls, emails, or messages to the supplier. The Quista web app takes care of that. Freshheads guides this start-up from A to scalable, and beyond. Through trial and error to success.

Industry

Other

Phase

Validate, Develop

Solution

Multisided marketplace

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Rens contributes to Quista's online marketplace.

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Challenge

The hassle of buying locally

Standing out in the crowd: that's what entrepreneurs do to attract customers. The same goes for supermarkets. Of course, most products are the same everywhere. The only way to be distinctive is by offering unique, local products. But sourcing them is such a hassle. Eline van Muilwijk, founder of Quista, says, “The truly local products fall outside the standard, automated ordering processes. It often ends up being phone calls to the village butcher, emails to the baker on the corner, handwritten packing slips, that kind of work. The supermarket world is highly digitized. Except for this bit of personalized sourcing. I thought: this can be improved!”

Solution

Simple, effective web app

Enter Quista. Supermarket employees order from local suppliers via the web app. The platform is clear, straightforward, and easy to use. Eline: “Imagine: the supermarket employee sees a nearly empty shelf in the morning. In the app, he checks if a colleague has already placed an order to replenish the stock. If not? It can be fixed right away. With a choice of only the local suppliers and specific products relevant to the supermarket. A significant relief for supermarkets, which already face high workloads and sky-high customer expectations. The process is also made as clean as possible for local suppliers. They only enter in the app what the supermarket needs: the name of the product, the price, and a barcode. This way, a farmer can easily manage his orders on his mobile, even from the tractor. And if he deals with multiple supermarkets, he simply checks an extra box. Super handy.”

Laptop en mobiele telefoon met Quista platform

Result

Local procurement quickly arranged

Quista is now quite indispensable for the participating supermarkets. Each month they purchase more than 80,000 euros worth of products via the app from local entrepreneurs. The majority of supermarkets use Quista daily. Everything is within the app. This includes, for example, waste registration and a quality module. Eline: “The goal is to scale up to a hundred participating supermarkets next year. The users we have now are tremendously enthusiastic. They see that Quista improves order discipline, that the shelves are better stocked, and that consequently more is sold. It's also great for local suppliers, who see their product sales increase thanks to Quista. It's now up to us to spark interest among others.”

Process

Meeting with the end user

Something like Quista did not exist yet. So where do you start? At the beginning, of course! From scratch, we collaborated with initiator Eline on shaping the yet non-existent business: how can we solve this problem and which features are truly necessary? We tested all assumptions. The moment we realized: 'Yes, got it!', we started a small trial, which we rapidly developed into a full-fledged app. Quick switching is essential to keep the supermarket shelves stocked. Head Rens Alkemade: “Within two weeks, we built a simple version of the app, where at least all important features were functional. We tested our assumptions with the supermarket staff, to see what worked and what was missing. Later, we involved other supermarkets to gather more input. All of this results in an app that users can no longer do without.”

"Freshheads is an indispensable teammate when starting a new business like this. They are critical and continuously focus on the end user. They don't just build, but test and verify - over and over again. Everything for a result that truly adds value."

Eline van Muilwijk - Founder of Quista

Patty van de Wetering

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