Giant Eagle seeks to transform category management

Giant Eagle Inc. aims to improve customer experience through strategic category management improvement.

The Pittsburgh-based food, fuel and pharmacy retailer is transitioning its category management activities to the Blue Yonder suite. Supply chain and retail planning solutions provider Plantensive, a MorganFranklin Consulting company, is facilitating the technology transition and modernization effort.

Giant Eagle is currently focusing its category management transformation program on 216 supermarkets and 274 GetGo convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana.

The grocer intends to make more informed decisions about which products are placed where within these stores, based on knowing precisely what products customers want, and where and how they want to get them. Giant Eagle will leverage the capabilities of the Blue Yonder Category Management suite, including spatial analysis of macro- and micro-space and tracking product allocation at store and shelf-space level.

The retailer also intends to use its new category management system to enables more effective collaboration between store managers, supply chain managers and merchandisers in allocating products customers want in the correct locations and amounts.

"Plantensive joined Giant Eagle as an experienced Blue Yonder category management partner which was critical for us in this implementation," said Giant Eagle VP of merchandising planning, operations & analytics Scott McNeely. "We are looking forward to our improved guest experience and increased collaboration with the updated solution as our teams continue partnering to accelerate our category management initiatives."

"More than ever, retailers need to really understand the shopping behaviors and preferences of their local customers – and to adapt when they change," said Rhonda Stinson, executive director and category management practice lead at Plantensive. "While many stores struggle to access a variety of siloed data, Giant Eagle, by bringing information into a single source of truth, is transforming its ability to give customers what they need. While exact performance figures can vary, in our experience, retailers begin to see increased margins within the first year of implementation.”

Giant Eagle expands food waste diversion program

In another example of Giant Eagle trying to more effectively manage inventory, the company has been offering reduced prices on soon-to-expire food at a growing number of stores. The grocer is expanding its partnership with Flashfood, a digital marketplace for heavily discounted food nearing its best-by date.

Since Giant Eagle first introduced the Flashfood program at 34 store locations in 2021, the retailer says that more than 430,000 pounds of food waste has been diverted from reaching landfills. The Flashfood app enables customers to browse deals, directly from their phone or computer, on fresh items like meat, produce boxes, dairy, and bakery items, as well as center-store foods and snacks that are nearing their best-by dates.

Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle Inc. operates more than 490 stores throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.