Wegmans, P&G, Smucker's in Pilot to Improve Sales Calls

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Wegmans Food Markets here is engaged in a proof-of-concept pilot with Procter & Gamble and Smucker's to develop a new kind of vendor sales call that eliminates administrative waste. Called the "New Generation Sales Call," the practice was described by Wegman Chief Executive Officer Danny Wegman at the Food Marketing Institute's Distribution/Supply Chain Conference last month in Orlando, Fla. According to Don Reeve, Wegmans' senior vice president and chief information officer, the pilot, which leverages an Oracle decision support system hosted by Wegmans, is expected to be completed in early June. During the pilot, Wegmans and the two suppliers will be sharing metrics on supply chain practices in order to make sales calls more valuable. "We hope this will help us with the journey to what we think will be a new way of working together," Reeve told SN. -- Michael Garry