Ahold Delhaize USA partners with RangeMe to find diverse-owned brands

Looking to provide a better omnichannel experience for Ahold Delhaize USA shoppers, Peapod Digital Labs (PDL) is partnering with online platform ECRM RangeMe, to seek out certified, diverse-owned businesses to showcase their products, the e-commerce engine for Ahold Delhaize US announced on Monday.

“We launched this program in 2021 to demonstrate our commitment to bringing the products of certified, diverse-owned businesses to the grocery brands of Ahold Delhaize USA,” said Andjela Petrovic, director of supplier diversity for PDL, in a statement. Last year the merchants of the Ahold Delhaize USA companies met with over 100 suppliers, fully onboarding 20 new suppliers to one or more brands of Ahold Delhaize USA, with many more still in the onboarding process.”

A new feature of this year’s partnership includes a joint effort with Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified, women-owned business PowerToPitch to offer participating suppliers a free pitch coaching service to prepare for these events.

"We’re excited to offer professional coaching for select candidates to help them approach the meetings with a clear and compelling pitch,” said Petrovic. “We worked with PowerToPitch during our Incubator program in 2022 and participants found the support and resources tremendously beneficial. It’s an investment to develop a skill that lasts well beyond this one meeting or event. We hope this program will continue to support and facilitate new relationships between diverse-owned suppliers and the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA.”

PDL is scheduled to host four quarterly virtual events with the first scheduled event to take place April 10-19. Later events will be held in June, August and October.

Certified minority-, LGBTQ -, woman- and veteran-owned businesses, as well as those owned by people with disabilities, with products or services in the listed categories can apply by Feb. 3.