WEGMANS IN PILOT TO IMPROVE SALES CALLS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Wegmans Food Markets here is engaged in a proof-of-concept pilot with Procter & Gamble and Smucker's to develop a new kind of vendor sales call that eliminates administrative waste. Called the “New Generation Sales Call,” the practice was described by Wegman Chief Executive Officer Danny Wegman at the Food Marketing Institute's Distribution/Supply Chain Conference last month in Orlando, Fla. According to Don Reeve, Wegmans' senior vice president and chief information officer, the pilot, which leverages an Oracle decision support system hosted by Wegmans, is expected to be completed in early June. During the pilot, Wegmans and the two suppliers will be sharing metrics on supply chain practices in order to make sales calls more valuable. “We hope this will help us with the journey to what we think will be a new way of working together,” Reeve told SN.
FMI APPLAUDS LAUNCH OF RETAIL CRIME DATABASE
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Food Marketing Institute here is “very pleased” that the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network, launched April 9, is “up and running,” said FMI spokesman Bill Greer. LERPnet, launched by the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is designed to collect retail crime data in order to advance investigative efforts by law enforcement, especially into organized retail crime. Retailers will be able to share data on crimes at their stores with other retailers and law enforcement via the network. “This will help the entire retail community,” said Greer. “FMI members are contributing data to it to ensure that it covers all crimes committed against food retailers. The more people contribute to it, the more robust and effective it will be.”
