UNFI improves visibility into supply chain data

United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) has partnered with food and beverage data specialist Crisp to help keep CPG brands updated on supply chain status.

New York-based Crisp said yesterday that food and beverage suppliers will be able to use its cloud-based commerce platform to share, manipulate and use UNFI data within their own business intelligence tools such as Excel and Power BI, enabling them to more easily track UNFI sales and inventory levels across retail sales channels.

The nation’s largest publicly traded grocery distributor, Providence, R.I.-based UNFI supplies more than 250,000 items to 30,000 retailers in the United States and Canada, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice providers.

“Finding and delivering innovative solutions that help our suppliers respond quickly to new opportunities and insights is critical in this constantly evolving industry,” UNFI President Chris Testa said in a statement. “This relationship with Crisp is a great example of how UNFI is helping food companies better leverage data to make smart decisions going forward and, ultimately, improve the service level to our retail customers.”

Crisp noted that its collaboration with UNFI allows food and beverage companies to update their own analytics and business intelligence (BI) platforms without having to manually download them, saving time and reducing data errors. The platform also provides real-time data integration, giving managers access to the latest, most relevant distribution data, helping to keep shelves stocked and improve shopper satisfaction, according to Crisp. Visual reports on customizable dashboards also help managers quickly identify performance issues, voids, regional sales opportunities and other business insights.

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“Through this relationship with UNFI, brands now have access to valuable supply chain data,” commented Are Traasdahl, CEO of Crisp. “With this improved workflow, Crisp is delivering higher levels of supply chain visibility to leading food and beverage brands and is helping UNFI brands use data to improve performance.”

Mountainville N.Y.-based food supplier Katz Gluten Free has signed on to use the Crisp Connector for UNFI, according to Crisp.

“From reports, you can build insights, and then build a data-driven case for additional items, increased shelf space or more merchandising,” stated Roberto Cruz, marketing director for Katz. “The key is to create value for our partners by leveraging the data to generate valuable consumer insights.”

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Analytics platforms supported by Crisp include Tableau, Power BI, Snowflake, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage and Microsoft Excel, among others.