SUPERVALU ROLLS OUT E-MAIL TO 240 STORES IN MIDWEST

PAT NATSCHKE LENIUS

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Supervalu's re-engineering initiative has reached another milestone with the completed rollout of electronic mail to 240 stores in the Midwest region.

"We are laying down an electronic highway between us and our customers, and between us and our vendors," said O'Neill McDonald, president of Supervalu's Midwest Region, Kenosha, Wis.

McDonald discussed aspects of the company's Advantage re-engineering program at a meeting here of the Merchandising Executives Club of Chicago.

In the Midwest E-mail test, Supervalu is working with MCI's value-added network to implement a more efficient communications network for sharing key information at all levels of the organization.

"We have Pentium computers and laser jet printers in every store, enabling immediate communication between our office and the stores," McDonald said.

"Results of the E-mail test will be evaluated before it is expanded to other regions," a Supervalu spokeswoman told SN in an interview following McDonald's presentation.

Another area McDonald touched upon was Supervalu's Advantage pricing and category management programs in its Denver division.

The program initially involved five stores and five product categories. "It is going well," he said.

"We are expanding it to all categories in Denver. Within a year to 18 months we should roll it out throughout the country," added the spokeswoman.