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Can Artificial Intelligence Freshen Up Your Groceries?
By Dennis Kaiser
A growing list of the U.S.’s biggest grocery chains are tapping into artificial intelligence as a way to ensure product freshness. Starting this year, Salisbury, NC-based Retail Business Services, Ahold Delhaize USA’s services company, will expand its partnership to provide an innovative, integrated solution for forecasting and replenishment. The technology will support grocery brands, including Hannaford, Food Lion, Giant Food, GIANT/MARTIN’s, Stop & Shop and Peapod, the U.S.’s leading online grocer.
The new solution, which leverages technology from Relex Solutions, will provide even fresher produce to millions of customers that shop in the local brands’ stores each week, no matter how they shop — whether in-stores, through pick-up points or online for delivery.
“By implementing this game-changing solution, Retail Business Services is further enabling Ahold Delhaize USA’s local brands to deliver on their ambitions to be there for their customers anytime, anywhere with the freshest products,” said Retail Business Services’ Chris Lewis. “Not only will it provide local brand stores with the flexibility they need to best serve their customers, it will enable a complete supply chain transformation at a time when customer expectations are rapidly changing the way groceries are bought, sold and delivered.”
The partnership aims to make sure consumers that shop these local grocery brands, which together comprise the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast, always have access to the freshest products, whether shopping in-store, picking up or getting their groceries delivered. Relex’s technology solution will enable enhanced supply chain visibility and collaboration that will support the grocery brands’ strategies to provide their customers with a leading omnichannel experience and fresh groceries always.
The solution delivers integrated, efficient end-to-end forecasting and replenishment for both fresh and center store products using a flexible rules engine, which enables each of the local brands to tailor the solution to their customers’ unique needs. Leveraging artificial intelligence, the system constantly learns from itself to enable increasingly sophisticated forecasting decisions.
The completion of successful pilots with Food Lion and Hannaford helped Retail Business Services reach the decision to scale the Relex system as a service to each of the U.S. brands. With more than 2,100 stores and 12 distribution centers, the local brands of Ahold Delhaize USA manage some of the most significant supply chain operations on the East Coast.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
