Wakefern taps dunnhumby to sharpen merchandising

ShopRite parent Wakefern Food Corp. has enlisted customer data science specialist dunnhumby to provide its mainline category management and merchandising platform.

Plans call for Wakefern to use dunnhumby’s customer data models and consumer-driven insights and collaboration to help the retail grocery cooperative — with 363 supermarkets in nine states — tailor merchandising decisions to shopper behavior and spur engagement and growth, Chicago-based dunnhumby North America said Monday.

“Our customers remain our singular focus. The tools and process that dunnhumby brings to the vendor relationship will allow us to increase product/service offerings delivering the best shopping experience our customers deserve,” Steve Henig, chief customer officer at Keasbey-N.J.-based Wakefern, said in a statement. “Dunnhumby is a global industry leader that uses data and insights to understand evolving customer needs and help retailers deliver the products and categories that meet those needs.”

Dunnhumby noted that its technology will add to Wakefern’s already well-developed merchandising and data analytics by “putting the customer directly at the heart of the decision-making process.” The nation’s largest retailer-owned grocery cooperative, Wakefern’s network of independently owned and operated grocery stores includes nearly 280 ShopRite supermarkets plus stores under the Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

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“We are honored to have been selected by Wakefern as their strategic partner for category management and merchandising,” commented Grant Steadman, president of North America at dunnhumby. “Wakefern and its cooperative members have a long history as customer-centric and innovative retailers," said "Like them, we are passionate about improving the shopping experiences for customers and creating lifelong loyalty.”

The partnership with dunnhumby marks Wakefern’s latest effort to personalize marketing and promotions and better reach and engage with customers across brick-and-mortar and digital channels.

Earlier this month, Wakefern expanded its use of CitrusAd’s retail media technology to include native in-app advertising. That built on a partnership announced in January in which Wakefern adopted CitrusAd’s solutions to offer CPG companies sponsored product and display ads across its e-commerce platform. In April, Wakefern named Huge Brooklyn as its digital brand agency of record to enhance its end-to-end digital experience, encompassing web, mobile, social media and in-store channels.

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Also, in December, Wakefern expanded its data partnership with Catalina to help CPG brands better understand customer behavior across its retail properties and boost digital engagement with these shoppers. And last August, Wakefern made a foray into targeted, off-site programmatic advertising by extending its use of Inmar Intelligence’s Retail Cloud.