Southern Co-op saved 3.1 million meals from going to waste last year thanks to its partnership with markdown technology provider Retail Insight.
The society said it prevented 3,083 tonnes of food from entering landfill – the same weight as 257 double-decker buses – rising by 426 tonnes from the year before.
Prior to partnering with Retail Insight, its markdown process on fresh and ambient goods worked by using a fixed price based on time of day, which did not allow for factors such as volume and weather. This led to imbalances in sell-through of short-life products and reduced-price items, which affected customer availability, waste levels and profitability.
Southern Co-op rolled out Retail Insight’s data-driven food waste reduction solution WasteInsight in 2022 in order to optimise these processes.
The product uses advanced, cognitive-driven technology to analyse a wide range of data points from product type to seasonality, enabling grocers to calculate a product’s optimal discount price and markdown time to reduce waste, while maximising sell-through and minimising loss.
“The markdown process is far more transparent and proactive than it was before,” said Southern Co-op chief operation officer of food retail Simon Eastwood. “Retail Insight’s solution enables us to steer our markdown strategy towards a more optimised way of working, with clear goals and improved visibility into outcomes.
“In-store teams have found it easy and we now have much better visibility of how our store teams are complying with the markdown values and timings, which we did not previously have.”
Kieran O’Brien, VP customer success EMEA at Retail Insight, added: “It’s great to see the strides Southern Co-op is creating on their path to their waste-free future. With optimised markdowns, Southern Co-op not only reduces food wastage, stopping perfectly good food entering landfill, but it’s also able to sell more while delivering value to its customers.”
Southern Co-op plans to launch several other trials using the solution, including a markdown timing trial to ensure the retailer receives the best markdown window from an operational and performance perspective. It also plans to conduct several algorithm test pilots to further enhance the system and drive performance.
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