Albertsons, EYC ink multiyear software deal

Albertsons Cos. said Thursday that it has signed a multi-year deal with Symphony EYC to use Symphony's supplier collaboration, assortment and shelf optimization tools across all of its 19 retail banners.

Symphony's customer-centric retailing (CCR) platform is expected to go live in third quarter of this year while its integrated assortment platform will be rolled out progressively over the next several quarters, the companies said.

The tools will replace existing services at Albertsons currently provided by Nielsen, a Symphony EYC spokeswoman said.

Symphony said the software would enable category growth by providing Albertsons category managers with an integrated suite of analytics capabilities and insights on demand, and also enable shared insights and superior collaboration with CPG suppliers, based on the combination of the company's customer and merchandising data and Symphony EYC's supplier collaboration tools and insights services.

"We are very excited to have Symphony EYC as our strategic customer-centric retailing partner to help each of our divisions strengthen supplier collaboration and localized product assortments that customers want in our stores," Shane Sampson, chief marketing and merchandising officer for Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, said in a statement.

In a separate announcement this week, Boston-based Symphony said that Infosys executive Sandeep Dadlani and former Procter & Gamble executive Joan Lewis had joined its board of directors.