SpartanNash enhances produce forecasting with AI

SpartanNash is helping to ensure fresh produce is stocked on its shelves with artificial intelligence (AI)-based predictive ordering.

The grocery retailer/distributor is piloting the Afresh AI and inventory management platform at 10 of its owned Family Fare grocery stores in the Grand Rapids, Mich. area. Utilizing Afresh, SpartanNash fresh department managers have access to ordering tools with real-time insights to support fresh ordering decisions.

The platform also helps SpartanNash minimize food waste by ensuring the appropriate inventory levels are maintained and fresh based on insights from customer shopping habits.

“Our partnership with Afresh will help SpartanNash deliver fresh produce to our store guests while also minimizing food waste, which is a key focus area for our company’s environmental, sustainability and governance efforts,” said SpartanNash chief merchandising officer Bennett Morgan. “Leveraging the strength of artificial intelligence and digital workflow will provide our associates with insights to create solutions that benefit our corporate retail store shoppers.”

“The more time our associates save in the forecasting and ordering process, the more time they can spend on the floor serving our store guests,” said SpartanNash executive VP and GM, corporate retail Tom Swanson. “SpartanNash will continue to implement innovative solutions that improve our shoppers’ in-store experience and help us deliver the ingredients for a better life.”

"SpartanNash takes pride in empowering store leaders with buying decisions and providing the freshest foods for its store guests,” said Afresh CEO Matt Schwartz. "Afresh is proud to partner with the SpartanNash team to help better manage the ever-changing nature of fresh. As the only built-for-fresh solution that intelligently navigates hard-to-predict data to drive optimal decisions, Afresh takes a unique approach to solving the complexities of a fresh department.”

SpartanNash takes technology-focused enterprise approach

SpartanNash has been deploying innovative solutions in different areas of its enterprise. For example, the company is collaborating with Specialty Food Partners to offer a new hosted online platform called SpartanNash SpecialtyDirect. The platform enables the company’s grocer customers to seamlessly browse thousands of newly available product options, place orders, and pay consolidated invoices.

SpartanNash SpecialtyDirect is designed to make SpartanNash-supported independent grocery customers more competitive by increasing access to specialty, seasonal, and local items so they can tailor their product assortment to local shopper preferences.

The company is also partnering with Uber and DoorDash to provide same-day online delivery, and further reduces food waste by selling soon-to-expire products via the Flashfood app in select stores.

The core businesses of SpartanNash include distributing grocery products to independent and chain retailers, its corporate-owned retail stores, and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges. The company also operates a fresh produce distribution network and the Our Family brand. SpartanNash serves customer locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Djibouti. The company owns 145 supermarkets—primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin's Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG's Grocery, and Dan's Supermarket.