Grocery prices are at 40-year highs, and consumers are desperate for solutions. But until now, there hasn’t been an easy way to compare your entire shopping list across multiple stores to find out where you could actually save money.
Enter Grocery Dealz, a Texas-based startup that’s bringing the Gas Buddy model to grocery shopping.
The Problem: Grocery Price Opacity
Co-founder and co-CEO Matt Goynes explains the fundamental problem: “Grocery prices are insane, and there’s just not a tool out there that can help people compare and save. No one knows exactly how much they could save by switching stores or just shopping at another store.”
Unlike gas stations, where prices are clearly displayed and easy to compare, grocery pricing has remained opaque. Sure, you might clip coupons or check weekly ads, but comparing your entire shopping list across multiple retailers? That’s been nearly impossible—until now.
Why Now? The Perfect Storm
Grocery Dealz emerged at an inflection point where demand finally met supply. “We’re kind of at this inflection point in the market where the demand with grocery prices being the highest it’s been in 40 years has finally met this supply and availability of data,” Goynes notes.
Almost every grocery retailer now has their prices available online—either on their website or in their app. This data availability, combined with advances in AI technology, makes comprehensive price comparison finally feasible.
How It Works: AI-Powered Matching
The technology behind Grocery Deals is more complex than it might seem. The challenge isn’t just collecting prices—it’s matching products accurately across different retailers.
“What Kroger calls bread and categorizes under the bread category, Target may categorize under bread and bakery,” Goynes explains. “If we’re trying to find a substitution for you, we can’t reference that category if the categories aren’t matched up and aligned.”
This is where AI becomes essential. Grocery Dealz uses artificial intelligence for:
- Product matching and substitution
- Data normalization across retailers
- Category alignment
- Finding equivalent products when exact matches aren’t available
After a successful alpha and beta launch in Dallas-Fort Worth in June, the team spent months perfecting their substitution process based on user feedback. “The product has to be perfect. Consumer expectations have to be perfect. The comparison has to be perfect.”
Beyond B2C: A Two-Sided Marketplace
While consumers get free price comparison, Grocery Dealz is also building a B2B marketplace that benefits both retailers and CPG brands.
For retailers, price transparency isn’t something to fear—it’s an opportunity. Goynes shares the example of Hotels.com: “There were rewards members who loved our rewards program and they wouldn’t switch for $10 or $15 savings because they wouldn’t get their hotels.com rewards points.”
Similarly, consumers don’t always switch stores for small savings. They value convenience, loyalty programs, and store familiarity. But retailers need to know when they’re not competitive. As Goynes puts it: “For 40 bucks? Yeah, sorry. I’ll switch.”
For CPG brands, Grocery Dealz offers targeted promotion opportunities. If a brand knows a consumer is comparing their product but choosing a competitor, they can offer a timely coupon or discount to win that sale.
Expanding Nationwide
Currently live throughout Texas, Grocery Dealz is expanding rapidly:
- California launches next week
- New York, Illinois, and Florida by end of November
- National rollout by January 2025
The team’s goal? “We really hope to have been a major disruptor in the grocery shopping process and bringing the value of all the savings to consumers who absolutely desperately need it.”
Defensible Against ChatGPT?
In an era where AI threatens to disrupt every business, how does Grocery Dealz think about competition from ChatGPT or other AI shopping tools?
Goynes acknowledges the question comes up constantly with investors. His answer: “There’s still some areas where AI can’t replace Grocery Dealz. Building the marketplace, building the relationships with the CPGs and the retailers, just getting the amount of data that we have and accessing that data is still extremely difficult to do.”
The moat isn’t just technology—it’s relationships, data access, and marketplace dynamics.
The Vision: Gas Buddy for Groceries
Just as Gas Buddy transformed how Americans think about fuel prices in 2007, Grocery Dealz aims to transform grocery shopping. “Hopefully in a year from now we’re saying this has taken over America, has massive adoption much like Gas Buddy did when they started in ’07 and the gas prices hit all-time highs.”
With grocery prices at historic highs and consumers desperate for savings, the timing couldn’t be better.
Listen to the Full Episode
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Amazon Music
Ready to see how much you could save? Visit www.grocerydealz.com to download the app and start comparing prices. If you’re a retailer or CPG brand interested in the marketplace opportunity, contact information is available on their website.
Be careful out there,
– Chris, Anne, and the Omni Talk team
P.S. See our past 8 years of wonderful Spotlight Series podcast guests, featuring roughly 200 movers and shakers in retail, by clicking here
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Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.