Wakefern integrates S4RB online platform to power own brand development
Wakefern Food has tapped Solutions for Retail Brands (aka S4RB) to power an online platform that shares real-time data and analytics with existing and new own brand vendor partners, all in an effort to help continue to grow the retailer-owned cooperative’s own brand portfolio.
Wakefern will integrate S4RB’s “Affinity” platform into its existing systems through all stages of its private brand process, from developing new own brand products to sales and post-purchase review.
“We are excited to join forces with Solutions for Retail Brands, and are confident the new platform will help us continue to elevate our own brand lines — and ultimately benefit our cooperative, retail members and shoppers,” said Chris Skyers, vice president of Own Brands at Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern. “We believe this will accelerate our ability to continually create innovative products that offer incredible quality and value for our customers."
The global, consulting-led software company S4RB most recently launched a new way to benchmark private brand success called The Consumer Experience Score, a metric that factors in an own brand’s design, packaging, sustainability and healthfulness, product taste, and many more performance measures. The benchmark is a new element included in the company’s Affinity platform. Read an in-depth Q&A with S4RB CEO James Butcher here about the new measurement tool.
A key to the platform for Wakefern is its ability to be shared with its own brand vendors to continually communicate with its partners.
“This new software will help Wakefern identify the best and most innovative suppliers, and work with them to deliver on brand strategy,” said Butcher. “This platform allows Wakefern to work with suppliers as one team with improved communications, information sharing and support.”
Wakefern’s newest private brands are the Bowl & Basket line of foods and Paperbird line of household products. The sleek lines debuted in November at the ShopRite banner, as seen in this Store Brands profile on the launch but have also been rolled out to other banners such as Price Rite Marketplace. That banner just announced it would be expanding the two store brands this month and into next year.