UNFI looks to sharpen forecasting and procurement

Amid a volatile economy and changing customer behavior, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) is bringing in new technology to hone its forecasting and buying functions.

Providence, Rhode Island-based UNFI said late Wednesday that it has tapped Relex Solutions to implement its industry-leading cloud-based procurement platform. According to the grocery distributor, the system from Relex—a provider of unified supply chain and retail optimization solutions—will consolidate and replace multiple buying systems and drive efficiencies in demand planning and replenishment.

Relex’s solution stands to give UNFI a holistic view of operations—including future capacity and supply constraints—and streamline its planning processes via improved demand forecasting, ordering, and inventory management capabilities, UNFI reported. The wholesaler said it expects the platform to optimize inventory across all categories, including UNFI Fresh, while reducing spoilage, boosting service levels and creating more data visibility between suppliers and customers.

The artificial intelligence- and machine learning-driven system also will blend multiple buying systems into one enhanced process, resulting in a more robust analysis of demand plus a more granular approach to procurement, according to UNFI.

Relex’s inception comes as UNFI pushes ahead with a supply chain transformation to deliver an enhanced customer experience and spur customer growth by integrating advanced data-driven solutions and sharpening operational efficiency.

Improved demand planning and procurement are expected to help UNFI better uphold product freshness. / Photo courtesy of UNFI

“As part of UNFI’s multi-faceted transformation agenda, we’re continuing to implement cutting-edge technology to improve the customer and supplier experience, while increasing operating efficiency,” Erin Horvath, chief operating officer at UNFI, said in a statement. “Relex offers a robust, reliable solution that maximizes UNFI’s capabilities, helps automate our network, and optimizes our procurement processes, ensuring the freshness of our products and quality of service to our customers.”

In recent quarters, UNFI has seen lackluster results at the bottom line, in part citing a challenging operating and macroeconomic environment. CEO Sandy Douglas expressed “deep disappointment” earlier this month when reporting fiscal 2023 third-quarter results.

“We continue to get validation from our customers and our top-line results that we’re making the right strategic decisions and are actively building upon our customer and supplier value propositions,” Douglas explained a conference call. “We now need to accelerate our efforts to combine our unmatched market offerings with a more efficient, dynamic and digital-oriented operating model so that we can more adeptly anticipate and more efficiently respond to changing market conditions.” (Call transcript provided by AlphaSense.)

UNFI said the Relex platform is slated to become operational over the next 12 to 18 months. North America’s largest publicly traded grocery distributor, UNFI operates 56 distribution centers and supplies more than 30,000 retailers in the United States and Canada, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice providers.

“Relex is thrilled to be working with UNFI, as ensuring high service levels across all products, including fresh, is close to both of our hearts,” stated Frank Lord, chief revenue officer at Atlanta-based Relex. “We look forward to helping UNFI boost visibility across their supply chain so that they can hone the processes that work for them, their suppliers and their customers.”