MINNEAPOLIS -- Supervalu here has signed on as the exclusive wholesaler for Streamline, Westwood, Mass., the consumer-direct operator serving as a testbed for industry research into alternative delivery channels.
The wholesaler is also discussing other business opportunities with the home-shopping and delivery company, but no decisions have been made, according to Kevin Ellis, vice president of business planning for Supervalu's retail food companies.
"We are supplying them with grocery products for their dedicated consumer response center," he told SN, noting shipments out of Supervalu's Andover, Mass., facility began last month. "We had discussions with Streamline about a number of things they are doing, but nothing has been agreed to at the present time."
The wholesaler is providing 8,000 to 10,000 stockkeeping units, which constitute about 73% of Streamline's business, said Tim DeMello, founder and chairman of Streamline. The balance of sales comes from other products and services including prepared meals, dry cleaning, film processing, video rental and postal service/package pickup.
Streamline had been stocking its 56,000-square-foot consumer response center with products from another area wholesaler, but has since discontinued that arrangement.
The consumer-direct concept -- and Streamline's business model, in particular -- has been studied closely by an industry group of food retailers and packaged goods manufacturers assembled by Andersen Con-sulting, Chicago. The group recently concluded that consumer-direct retailing -- which bypasses the traditional retail store -- is a viable and emerging delivery channel.
Streamline's service app-roach allows for "unattended home delivery" -- consumers need not be present to accept delivery because orders can be deposited into temperature-controlled storage units in-stalled in consumers' garages.
DeMello told SN that Streamline will launch, Jan. 1, a nine-month study to develop a consumer-direct business plan that can be replicated nationwide, he said.
Targeted marketing and consumer automated replenishment programs are also part of the plan and will be driven by a massive database of household-specific information now being compiled, DeMello said. Streamline collects this data when shoppers sign up for the home-delivery service.
