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The Story of Swiftly

Humble Beginnings

In 2018, three friends—Henry Kim, Sean Turner, and Karen Ho—set out on a mission: to give independent and regional grocers the digital tools they needed to compete with retail giants like Amazon and Walmart.

As Henry put it, "We wanted to democratize technology, to level the playing field for smaller retailers."

But big ideas don’t start in boardrooms. They start in unexpected places—like a small room above Zion Market, a family-owned Korean grocery store.

A Grocery Store, A Small Room, and A Big Idea

Henry approached Moses Hwang, COO of Zion Market, and pitched an idea: Let us build an app for your store. Moses agreed, offering them a tiny space above one of his eight stores.

With no time to waste, Henry, Sean, and Karen got to work—building, testing, and refining. They started with a self-checkout feature, hoping to eliminate long checkout lines. Every day, they coded upstairs, then walked downstairs to test the technology on real customers in real time.

But that wasn’t enough. The team wanted to truly understand grocery retail, so they stocked shelves, priced items, ran registers, and even handled customer returns. They cajoled, bribed, and persuaded shoppers to download the app—offering free pineapples, kiwis, and even Spifes (a spoon-knife hybrid) as incentives.

However, despite their best efforts, the app wasn’t “sticky” enough. Data showed that customers needed to use it at least five times before it became part of their routine. Something was missing.

A Pivot That  Changed Everything

Moses saw the challenge and suggested a shift—instead of just making checkout easier, what if the app could drive more shoppers into the store?

The app development continued and Sean even took the hustle across the street, to a wine bar in the nearby Whole Foods. There, he’d offer to buy strangers a drink in exchange for user testing. Most said yes, and over time, Dennis the bartender got to know Sean pretty well. During one of those casual sessions, a customer began pinching and zooming in on the app’s digital flyer, browsing offers in detail. That moment was a turning point—Sean realized people were hooked on seeing what they could save.

That’s when Swiftly launched its first loyalty program—a points-based system that rewarded customers for shopping items on the flyer. It worked. Customers loved it.

Word spread fast, and soon, Family Dollar came knocking. Swiftly built an app for the national retailer, integrating POS systems, loyalty programs, pricing files, and promotional catalogs. The experience cemented Swiftly’s expertise in building scalable, impactful retail solutions.

From Humble Beginnings to Industry Leader

Eight years later, Swiftly has grown from a small experiment in a local grocery store to a leading retail technology platform used by regional and independent grocers across the country.

But the mission remains the same. Technology should make life easier."As a founder, you have to set your ego aside," says Karen Ho. "You need to do whatever needs to be done."

Sean Turner puts it bluntly: "Who would have thought Amazon would become the third-biggest advertiser in the world? And Walmart is coming for you too. How do you compete with that?"

Retailers now face an existential challenge—digitally competing or being left behind. Swiftly was built to help them fight back—and win.

Today, Swiftly isn’t just a tech company—it’s a partner for independent and regional grocers, empowering them to stay competitive in a digital-first world.And it all started in a tiny room above a grocery store.