Ahold USA and RSi Reinvent the Retailer Supplier Relationship with Game-Changing Vendor Collaboration Program

CARLISLE, Penn. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahold USA, Inc., parent company of leading supermarkets Giant Landover, Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Carlisle, and of online grocery Peapod, has partnered with Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi) to set a new standard of excellence for vendor collaboration programs by introducing shared business processes across the enterprise. Ahold USA has leveraged RSi's data platform and collaboration tools to better align Ahold USA business goals and daily priorities with its vendor partners. This has allowed Ahold USA to improve operational execution, realize new efficiencies and increase product availability. Furthermore, Ahold USA vendor partners, both warehouse and DSD, have recaptured incremental sales and achieved significant cost savings through Ahold USA's revolutionary in-store alerting program and advanced collaborative business analytics.

"With the customer's experience at the center of our success, we recognized the opportunity to create a truly collaborative program where vendors and our retail businesses work together to problem-solve, reach goals and measure the effectiveness of our efforts to create a superior shopping experience for their consumers," said Walt Lentz, SVP of Planning, Replenishment and Logistics at Ahold USA.

Ahold USA selected RSi as a preferred partner due to the structured nature of RSi's approach. This approach uses formal use cases to drive actionable insights through the richness of the data provided by Ahold USA. Ahold USA and its vendor partners are able to make more informed decisions in near-real time and collaborate on vital business needs with this new Vendor Collaboration Program. These areas of action include reduced distribution voids, improved on-shelf availability, faster speed to shelf for product introductions, reduced unsaleables and improved promotional execution. Ahold USA and RSi have taken their collaboration program to a new level by incorporating daily downstream data turned into powerful alerting and analytic capabilities so that vendors can better execute against a single, shared version of the truth. Ahold USA has set a new standard of excellence with over three years of focus and a dedicated staff invested in the program.

"Ahold USA is changing the way retailers view, share, and derive value from their data. They are utilizing RSi to take their vendor relationships and business planning to a new level of efficiency and effectiveness," said Jonathan Golovin, CEO of RSi. Adding, "The results they are achieving across their evolving program are a clear indication of its success and future potential. Our alerts and real-time reporting capabilities make true collaboration possible with the benefit sustainable and measurable for both supplier and retailer."

A key driver of the Vendor Collaboration Program is the groundbreaking in-store alerting program which enables Ahold USA's businesses to deliver on-shelf availability alerts to their store associates each morning. More than three million such alerts have been resolved since program inception. This has helped to identify and solve root causes of out-of-stocks and streamline in-store operations.

Additional key elements of the Ahold USA Vendor Collaboration Program:

• Executive, cross-functional sponsorship: Program spans the entire organization, including store operations at each business unit, merchandising and supply chain teams, and has full executive support and sponsorship.
• Dedicated corporate team: Ahold USA has a team dedicated to manage the program and work with vendors to collaborate on the data, insights, and issues uncovered.
• Investment in store resources: Ahold USA's businesses have invested in store teams to close store-specific out-of-stock alerts and ensure optimal levels of on-shelf availability.
• Integrated scorecards: Scorecards are generated to provide real time reporting capabilities and support executive planning initiatives.

To join this industry leading collaboration program with Ahold USA and RSi please contact: [email protected]

About Ahold USA
Ahold USA is part of Ahold, a Dutch-based international food retailing group that operates quality supermarkets in the United States and Europe. Ahold USA supports four regional Divisions – Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover and Giant Carlisle – that together operate nearly 780 supermarkets with 115,000 associates in 14 states and the District of Columbia along with Peapod, the nation's leading e-commerce grocery shopping/delivery service. For more information, visit www.ahold.com.

About Retail Solutions Inc.
Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi) is a global provider of Big Data, predictive analytics for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. The company collects and transforms billions of data points on what shoppers are buying every day and makes it insightful and actionable for better tactical and strategic decision-making at the corporate level and in the field. RSi's innovation and competitive edge comes from the science, algorithms and patented technology that power its cloud-based solutions. The RSi platform is trusted by more than 500 global CPG companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Diageo, Heineken, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, L'Oréal, Mondelez, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever to maximize product availability, uncover new opportunities, and drive sales. To learn more about the company, visit: http://www.retailsolutions.com/

Media Contacts:
Laurie Speaks
Director of Marketing, RSi
[email protected] 
650.390.6143

SOURCE Retail Solutions Inc.

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