About BuyersMarket
We're Building Food Security Infrastructure for the Caribbean
The Problem I Couldn't Ignore
Growing up in Jamaica, I watched my family face the same challenge every week: stretching our food budget when prices seemed to change daily, and no one really knew which store had the best deals. We'd hear from a cousin that rice was cheaper at Hi-Lo, or a friend would mention MegaMart had a sale on chicken—but by the time you drove across town, the deal was gone or the price had changed.
As I pursued my PhD in International Political Economy and later became a data engineer, I kept coming back to this problem. Jamaica has the Caribbean's worst food affordability crisis. Families spend up to 47% of their income on groceries. We face 8.1% food inflation—nearly double the regional average. And 55.1% of Jamaicans experience food insecurity.
But here's what really frustrated me: we had zero tools to help us fight back.
The government tried. The Consumer Affairs Commission launched a price comparison app in 2019. It downloaded 4,000 times in six years and earned a 3.3-star rating. Users complained that essential items weren't listed, prices were missing, and the iOS version hadn't been updated in four years. It failed because it didn't solve the real problem.
I realized families don't just need to know where groceries are cheapest—they need to know when to buy them.
That's why I built BuyersMarket.
Our Mission: Know When to Buy
BuyersMarket is Jamaica's first real-time grocery price intelligence platform. We track prices across 225 stores and analyze 90 days of price history to tell you exactly when to buy each item.
Grab It!
Lowest price in 90 days. Buy now and maximize your savings.
Best time to buy
Fair Price
Within 10% of the best price. Good enough if you need it today.
Fair price
Hold Off
Price is high. Wait for a better deal if you can.
Wait for drop
No more guessing. No more overpaying. No more driving to three different stores hoping to find a deal.
We're not just building an app—we're restoring purchasing power to Caribbean families, one smart purchase at a time.
Why I'm the Right Person to Build This
Dr. Jody-Ann S. Jones
Founder & CEO
I'm a Jamaican-born data scientist with a PhD in International Political Economy, AWS Machine Learning certification, and full-stack software engineering experience. I've built digital dashboards for the Caribbean Export Development Agency and spent years solving complex data problems at scale.
But more importantly: I've lived this problem.
I know what it's like to stretch a grocery budget. I know the frustration of price uncertainty. I know how much mental energy goes into trying to optimize food spending when you're just trying to feed your family.
That's why I built the entire BuyersMarket MVP myself—every line of backend code, every Flutter widget, every data scraping pipeline. This isn't outsourced development with technical debt. This is a founder who understands both the technical challenge (data freshness at scale) and the human need (families deserve to know they're getting a fair price).
Technical proof: github.com/dasdatasensei
Our Principles
Transparency First
Families deserve to know the real cost of feeding themselves. We believe sunlight is the best disinfectant for price opacity.
Privacy Matters
Your shopping data belongs to you, not advertisers. We'll never sell your personal information.
Caribbean-Built
Solutions for our region should come from our region. We understand Jamaican shopping patterns because we live them.
Data Integrity
We'd rather have accurate data for 100 stores than questionable data for 1,000. Trust is earned through reliability.
Community-Powered
Our users make us better. Every receipt uploaded, every price checked—you help keep data fresh for everyone.
The Impact We're Building Toward
Average monthly savings per household when they know exactly when to buy.
Across 500,000 families, that's J$22.5 million in annual savings returned to Caribbean households. Money that can pay for education, healthcare, or savings. Money that builds generational wealth instead of disappearing into grocery inflation.
When families can afford to eat healthier because they saved 15% on groceries, that's generational impact. When students have money for books because their parents optimized food spending, that's economic mobility.
Technology can solve real problems for real people. This is ours.
Join Us in Building Food Security
Be part of the solution. Join the beta program and help shape the future of grocery shopping in Jamaica.