SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Afresh Technologies, the world’s leading fresh food technology company, is announcing the launch of its first solution for distribution centers, Afresh DC Forecasts.
The new AI-powered DC Forecasts offer the first-ever fresh-specific technology solution for DC buyers that automatically compiles the data the buyers must consider every day to forecast upcoming orders from the stores they serve.
Albertsons Companies, Inc., BB #:193326 a leading food and drug retailer in the United States, is the first customer to test and implement this new solution and is rolling out DC Forecasts across produce, meat, seafood, deli and food service for 17 distribution centers.
The launch of DC Forecasts marks Afresh’s first expansion beyond grocery stores as the company continues to revolutionize forecasting, ordering and inventory management for the fresh food supply chain.
Afresh DC Forecasts help grocers maximize product freshness by driving accuracy and efficiency in the forecasting process. DC Forecasts consider a wide range of demand drivers that are critical in fresh, like promotions, store displays, seasonal trends, holidays and more. Typically, DC buyers spend hours per week synthesizing multiple data sources and manually calculating forecasts.
Afresh DC Forecasts automate this process and provide DC buyers with daily forecasts for each item they manage, updated every day. These new DC Forecasts can be reviewed by buyers in a cloud-based web app alongside helpful context like promotions and store displays, and the forecast data can be directly integrated into existing business systems.
“With our new DC Forecasts, we’re streamlining fresh insights across the supply chain,” said Matt Schwartz, CEO of Afresh. “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.”
DC buyers are constantly updating forecasts, sometimes for hundreds of items each day. When forecasting goes wrong at the DC level, the effects ripple through to stores: excess supply results in food that’s past its peak freshness while shortages in supply lead to empty shelves and lost sales.
The amount of time buyers save using Afresh DC Forecasts means they’ll have more time to focus on other critical and strategic tasks such as addressing inventory issues and planning long-term buys. In addition, now that grocers can pair Afresh’s DC and grocery store solutions, they can drive greater efficiency from supplier to end consumer, reduce more waste throughout the supply chain and ensure quality and longer shelf life for customers.
“We are excited to continue our partnership with Afresh to further improve planning in our essential fresh departments,” said Amanda Martinez, GVP of National Replenishment and Planning at Albertsons Cos. “Following several months of testing, this new DC solution has already increased visibility and accuracy for daily forecasts across our fresh products.”
Since 2022, Albertsons Cos. has partnered with Afresh to offer a more efficient in-store fresh product ordering process. This enhancement has led to improved inventory conditions across the company’s stores, including Safeway, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Vons and ACME. In 2023, Afresh expanded its services beyond produce to include other key fresh departments at Albertsons Cos. stores such as meat, seafood, deli and prepared foods.
Afresh remains focused on developing AI-powered solutions for grocery store ordering and inventory management. Since 2017, when Afresh’s team of data scientists launched the first AI engine for fresh grocery, they have continued to deeply study many aspects of the industry.
The company’s machine learning and AI techniques have been recognized at leading AI and data science conferences, including INFORMS, where the Afresh team was the only group to present its work on the application of AI in fresh grocery. Thanks to the team’s ongoing research, Afresh’s core technology considers more fresh-specific data points and calculations than other fresh grocery solutions, making Afresh the leading technology for grocers to use AI to navigate shelf life, sales velocity, price elasticity, shifting display sizes, seasonality and incoming data quality to achieve fresher food that customers expect.
About Afresh
Afresh is the world’s leading fresh technology company, creating comprehensive and intelligent AI-powered solutions that are revolutionizing grocery’s fresh food supply chain. Afresh is changing the game by helping grocers make smarter, built-for-fresh decisions, and improving grocers’ bottom lines while reducing food waste on the retail floor. Founded in 2017 with the mission to eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all, Afresh is proudly serving national and regional grocery brands across the US. Today, Afresh has announced partnerships with grocers in more than 3,000 stores and 40 states, including Albertsons, Heinen’s, Bashas, Cub Foods, and more. Learn more at www.afresh.com.
