Peapod Digital Labs, ECRM Plan 2023 Supplier Summits
Peapod Digital Labs (PDL), the digital and e-commerce branch of Ahold Delhaize USA, is on the hunt for new and diverse-owned vendors.
PDL is teaming up with ECRM and its RangeMe platform to host four virtual events throughout 2023, where Ahold Delhaize USA’ s private brand merchants will meet with potential new suppliers. Certified minority-, LGBTQ-, woman-, veteran- and disabled-owned businesses with products listed in the application can apply by Friday, Feb. 3 for consideration in the virtual events. The first event is scheduled for April 10 – 19, 2023. Subsequent events will be held in June, August and October.
“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,” says Andjela Petrovic, director of Supplier Diversity for PDL. Last year the merchants of the Ahold Delhaize USA companies met with over a hundred suppliers, fully onboarding 20 new suppliers to one or more brands of Ahold Delhaize USA, with many more still in the onboarding process.”
New for this year, PDL is teaming up with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)-certified and women-owned business PowerToPitch to offer participating suppliers a free pitch coaching service to prepare for these events. Suppliers selected for the meetings with PDL will be offered a 75-minute group coaching session and a 30-minute 1:1 coaching session, focused on fine tuning and reviewing their product pitch and increasing confidence in their pitch presentations.
"We’re excited to offer professional coaching for select candidates to help them approach the meetings with a clear and compelling pitch,” added 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."