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UNFI boosts product sourcing for smaller retail buyers

RangeMe platform ties into distributor’s Easy Options SMB portal

Russell Redman

August 19, 2021

3 Min Read
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Suppliers will now be able use RangeMe to promote products to SMB retail buyers and field purchase orders directly on UNFI’s Easy Options website.UNFI

United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) is expanding its relationship with product discovery platform RangeMe to serve small and midsize business (SMB) customers.

Suppliers will now be able use RangeMe to promote their products to SMB retail buyers and field purchase orders directly on UNFI’s Easy Options online portal, the Providence, R.I.-based distributor said late yesterday. Easy Options offers wholesale pricing on groceries, natural and organic foods, health and wellness products and other items to small brick-and-mortar and online retailers.

UNFI has worked with San Francisco-based RangeMe, a subsidiary of ECRM, for the past four years. The new capabilities come just several months after the distributor launched Community Marketplace by UNFI, a business-to-business digital wholesale marketplace. The B2B site, powered by Boston-based Mirakl, allows thousands of emerging products not currently available at UNFI distribution centers to be ordered via Easy Options and shipped directly to retail customers.

“Scale and access to the widest assortment of grocery and wellness products are the foundation for being able to best serve customers in today’s e-commerce world,” Tom Kraus, vice president of e-commerce at UNFI, said in a statement. “In combination with our recently launched Community Marketplace, our latest work with RangeMe not only better positions UNFI to support emerging suppliers, but also sets up an expanded universe of discovery where over 15,000 unique customers are able to more easily purchase products that meet the ever-evolving needs of today’s consumer.”

Related:UNFI improves visibility into supply chain data

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UNFI suppliers set up a profile on RangeMe to showcase their wares to retailers via Easy Options.

UNFI noted that Easy Options, which offers SMBs flexible order sizes and no frequency requirements, gives RangeMe suppliers another outlet to showcase their products to retailers. To increase their brand and product visibility to this audience of retail buyers,  UNFI suppliers set up a profile on RangeMe.

Aimed at suppliers and retail buyers, RangeMe’s platform uses a dashboard to put thousands of products at buyers’ fingertips, making it easier to find and compare items. Automatic alerts are sent to buyers when new products meet their selection criteria. As a result, retail buyers can more efficiently source innovative new products and manage the inbound product submission process, according to RangeMe. For suppliers, RangeMe provides wide access to retail buyers plus added control over product marketing. Suppliers can upload details of their products to the platform for buyers to review. In addition, suppliers know when their products are being viewed and can receive feedback from buyers, while buyers can instantly contact suppliers of interest or track a product to be alerted of updates.

Related:UNFI launches online wholesale digital marketplace

Overall, RangeMe enables product discovery between more than 200,000 suppliers and retailers.

“This is the latest evolution of our relationship with UNFI, and it’s focused on facilitating the prevailing way that retailers and suppliers want to do business,” stated Nicky Jackson, founder and CEO of RangeMe. “RangeMe empowers nearly 13,000 retail buyers to efficiently discover innovative and emerging products, and we’re excited to expand our work with UNFI to bring tremendous opportunity to a broader set of suppliers and retailers across the industry.”

The nation’s largest public grocery wholesaler, UNFI operates 58 distribution centers and warehouses offering more than 275,000 national, regional and private-brand products to natural product superstores, independent retailers, traditional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice operators. 

In a June conference call on fiscal 2021 third-quarter results, UNFI President Chris Testa noted that the Community Marketplace is reaching more retailers.

“Within the important e-commerce space, our recently launched Community Marketplace continues to build as more SKUs get added to this innovative platform. Although it’s still in its infancy, we remain optimistic about the long-term prospects of this extension of our UNFI Easy Options B2B business,” Testa told analysts on the call. “As for e-commerce capability that we provide to our brick-and-mortar customers, we’ve now added 215 stores to our platform in the past year, with another 120 in the process of being on-boarded. These customers can now offer online ordering, click-and-collect and delivery to their shoppers.”

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About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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