All in all, we’re talking about 410 Spar and Alvo stores, but also Mini Markets and free customers. To provide them all with the most recent range of products, Retail Partners Colruyt Group evaluated the way in which their suppliers deliver the newest products. Up until recently, this was done by template forms that had to be filled out and then pass through quite a few services in the supermarket chain before they actually hit the shelves.
complete digitization of an outdated process.
This process needed simplification and digitization. That’s why RPCG opted for the support of our team to give this procedure a make-over. We built a new application with a corresponding database for them, so the suppliers that launch new products can upload all the necessary information onto a website. About 700 of the RCPG’s suppliers received the limited rights to introduce their new products to the supermarket chain through this new channel. The product starts at 1 central point and passes through each internal stage at RCPG to check, for example, all the information, the competitiveness of the price and the best marketing techniques, until it ends up on the shelves. Over a 9-month period, the idea turned into a web based application that now proves its use every day.
We first thoroughly analysed the process of Retail Partners Colruyt Group. Then our team started building with PHP Symfony and continued fine-tuning in weekly meetings until everything was completely in place and we had the ideal customized solution with which all the suppliers of Spar and Alvo, among others, can work today, but which also offers about a hundred employees of the RPCG a clear overview of how the process runs and where possible bottlenecks are located. A tool with which actually all supermarkets can increase their efficiency and which helps them to adapt their offer as quickly as possible to the new product lines of their suppliers.
1 central system gives clarity and helps avoid unnecessary delays.
In concrete terms, after a supplier has registered a new product in the Product Lifecycle Management tool, it goes through a cycle at Colruyt via the buyers, quality department, marketing and finally the order department and help desk. Only after approvals from all departments does it finally reach the customers via the shop shelves. From now on, this entire process runs through a single system where all those authorized at the RPCG have a clear overview, and no longer via template forms that risked being delayed in internal mail circuits and so on. All information can be consulted centrally and shop managers can also request and check it, once the product has received final approval.
"Randstad Digital's application helped us take a significant step forward. A procedure that we have to deal with on a daily basis grew into a fully digitized system that reduced the risk of problems and hiccups. This way, we not only save time, but also unnecessary work, and of course our customers also benefit. They can enjoy the most up-to-date offer on the market more quickly", concludes Isabel Gevers, project manager at Retail Partners Colruyt Group.
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