Dive Brief:
- Albertsons is the first customer to test Afresh’s new forecasting solution for distribution centers, Afresh announced Wednesday.
- The fresh food technology company’s new solution uses artificial intelligence and automatically compiles data that buyers use to forecast demand for upcoming orders from their stores.
- Albertsons is piloting the solution across produce, meat, seafood, deli and foodservice for 17 distribution centers as the grocery company ramps up its food waste reduction efforts.
Dive Insight:
The expanded partnership builds on Albertsons’ and Afresh’s several years of collaboration as the grocery company tackles food waste challenges.
“In developing this, we worked directly with our partners at Albertsons Cos. to develop a centralized data feed that meets pressing needs at the DC: saving buyers time while increasing service levels to stores,” Afresh CEO Matt Schwartz said in the announcement.
Afresh noted that buyers often forecast for hundreds of items daily, noting that inaccurate forecasting at the distribution center level can result in food waste and lost sales at stores.
The new offering, called Afresh DC Forecasts, aims to help grocers maximize product freshness with accurate and efficient forecasting as well as cut down on the time buyers spend on forecasting by automating the process. With the technology, buyers can get daily automated forecasts for each item they manage, Afresh said.
The AI-powered solution factors in a “wide range” of demand drivers like promotions, store displays, seasonal trends and holidays, according to the announcement.
The rollout of the new tech follows “several months of testing” that resulted in increased visibility and accuracy for daily forecasts across fresh products, Amanda Martinez, group vice president of national replenishment and planning at Albertsons, said in the announcement.
Albertsons has a goal of achieving zero food waste in landfills by 2030 as part of its sustainability efforts.
At the start of 2022, Albertsons announced a chainwide deployment of Afresh’s fresh food optimization technology. The following year, Albertsons said it would add Afresh’s AI food waste tech to the meat and seafood departments across its banners.
The new solution marks Afresh’s first expansion beyond brick-and-mortar grocery stores. Since its founding in 2017, Afresh has announced partnerships with grocers across more than 3,000 stores and 40 states, including Albertsons, Heinen’s and Cub Foods.
