It’s SMART by name and smart by nature for The Co-operative Group’s Store Merchandising And Replenishment Transformation initiative, a worthy winner of business initiative of the year.

The judges hailed SMART, which since its September rollout has enabled The Co-operative Food business to centrally control product ranges and orders for the first time in its 168-year history, “an incredible achievement given the co-op’s complexity”.

They weren’t exaggerating. The £12.5m stock management system was two years in the making and took more than 100 years of staff days to create. Its national rollout to more than 2,800 Co-operative stores means the society now has greater range consistency and certainty of order quantities across its estate.

This has led to improvements in on-shelf availability and range control as well as a reduction in stockholdings, says The Co-operative Food.

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