A wholesale grocery distributor's journey to an AI-powered future with PROS
This wholesale grocery distributor has been operating for more than a century. With more than 5,200 employees that do business in the grocery wholesale, packaging, technical trade, and aviation sectors.
The wholesale grocery distribution arm has more than 30,000 customers, making it one of the largest grocery distributors in the world. They supply Finland and surrounding countries with all forms of food goods, household products, specialty items, and a comprehensive line of alcoholic beverages. In addition to their core business of wholesale distribution, they have also been involved in various charitable activities, including donations to local food banks.
Recognizing the need to adapt to the changing business environment, the company expanded its operations to include online sales and delivery services. To enhance its supply chain management and logistics, the company invested in new technology. However, the expansion and shift to digital sales posed challenges to the company’s profitability. They had to think creatively and find innovative solutions to overcome these obstacles.
The quest for a comprehensive pricing solution
Amid the changing landscape, the pricing team and upper management realized the importance of a comprehensive pricing and selling solution that would empower them to navigate the complexities of their business effectively. Starting in the 2010s, the company began searching for solutions that would allow them to fully digitize and automate their pricing and selling processes.
After working with a different pricing provided for a couple of years, the wholesale grocery distributor realized their digital transformation goals would not be met. On the one hand, they had a viable rebate management solution. On the other, their sales team was still left creating quotes, sales agreements, customer discounts, and product discounts manually—clicking between multiple screens and spreadsheets to accomplish the job.
The previous solution was not only costing the company time, but also margin and revenue. The wholesale grocery distributor went back to the drawing table to seek a partner who could provide cutting-edge technology and guide them through the implementation process.
Selecting a superior solution
With the help of the pricing team, the executives identified that they needed a partner that could deliver:
- A next-generation platform
- Easy-to-use tools
- Solution education and assistance
- A customer-centric approach
- A partner just as dedicated to innovation as they are
In the middle of a competitive selection process, the company supplied PROS with one year of transaction data, enabling PROS to show exactly what their advanced pricing science was capable of. The analysis conducted by PROS revealed promising results, including an estimated revenue uplift of €8.5M and an impressive 25x return on investment within the first 6 months of use. These projections, along with the company’s dedication to research and development, scalability, and commitment to support, convinced the company to choose PROS as its preferred partner. Charting the path to success with PROS
The next step was to collaborate with PROS to map out an implementation plan. The initial phase involved launching PROS AI-powered Quoting in the spring of 2023, followed by the integration of AI-powered Pricing by the end of the year. The joint efforts of the customer and PROS aimed to optimize product catalogs, enable guided selling, streamline customer agreement and segmentation management, and provide sales opportunity insights, automated processes, security, and the delivery of ongoing support.
As the implementation progresses according to schedule, the wholesale grocery distributor is on the verge of going live with AI-powered Quoting by PROS. The pricing and sales teams have undergone training on the PROS Platform and are excited about the transformative impact it will have on their workflows. The days of a laborious and error-prone quoting process are numbered as the PROS solutions will drastically reduce quoting times, provide optimized pricing through advanced algorithms, and unlock new sales opportunities through the power of AI.
The Wholesale Grocery Distributor and their AI-powered future with PROS
The distributor’s commitment to innovation and adaptation led the company to embrace the potential of next-generation pricing science. By partnering with PROS, they positioned themselves for a future of improved profitability and operational efficiency. The implementation of AI-powered Quoting is just the beginning of the transformation, with AI-powered Pricing set to revolutionize their business further. The combined forces of the distributor and PROS will give the customer the technological edge they need to remain a leading wholesale grocery distributor, continue to grow their customer base, and increase margins and revenue.
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