Shoppers at Busch’s 15 grocery stores are finding shopping and saving easier thanks to a new online program called MyWay that allows members to create lists, check sale prices and place online orders for nearly 40,000 items.

It’s one way the Ann Arbor-based chain is competing for a piece of the nation’s $547.1 billion grocery industry. In Ann Arbor, shoppers have dozens of choices from national chains to smaller, locally owned stores.

Ryan Duff, customer service manager at Busch's Fresh Food Market in Ann Arbor, loads groceries into a customer's car. The customer used the new "My Busch's" feature to order her groceries, Busch's then shopped for the customer's groceries and loaded them into her car when she arrived at a scheduled pick up time.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

As a result, grocery retailers are turning to innovation to attract shoppers. 

While stores like Kroger have long required membership in their programs to gain access to special pricing, Busch’s thinks MyWay provides something that consumers can’t find anywhere else: personalization.

“One of the coolest things to me is what it does for customers,” said Kim Brown, Busch’s director of marketing. “This is a way for customers to save on items they buy regularly, and to know when those items will be on sale. “

The key to the system is customization. On the Web site, shopping lists can be saved or e-mailed. When printed, the lists are organized by where items are located in the selected store. Creating the lists can be done by browsing the weekly ad or searching a store’s complete inventory. The “My Deals” section shows a shopper all items from their 12-month histories that are currently or will be on sale for at least 10 percent off, and the weekly e-mail features those same items. Members also get an early look at next week’s sales before they are published.

The brainchild of Busch’s president John Busch, MyWay took six months to plan and another six months to build. It launched in the chain’s Saline and West Bloomfield stores in July before opening to all stores in September. Busch’s spokesperson declined to reveal how many customers are using the system.

“This was a big leap for us technologically,” said Mike Smith, Busch’s vice president of information systems. “We didn’t have much web programming experience before, but we do now.”

Security was a key for the design team, Smith said. “We could have probably built it in half the time, but we wanted to get security right,” he said.

All user data is encrypted and none of it is stored on the Web site. Busch’s has an outside firm test the security infrastructure regularly to ensure members’ personal information is safe. Smith also said the team has a long to-do list for future enhancements, including adding mobile capabilities and allowing users to add coupons to their account right from the Internet.

Despite all the technology behind the program, Brown says MyWay is simply part of Busch’s goal to provide superior service to its customers.

“Our niche is providing service like that of the old neighborhood grocer,” she said. “Service and convenience, down to the level of store organization, are ideas that weave throughout our whole organization. MyWay is a big part of that.”