Founded in 1956, Calgary Co-op is one of North America’s largest retail cooperatives, headquartered in Calgary, Canada. The retailer operates across multiple lines of business, including grocery stores, petroleum stations and pharmacies. The cooperative’s mission is to deliver exceptional products and services, and it is a completely member-owned organization.
- calgary-co-op
Success Story
Calgary Co-Op
Calgary Co-op Reduces Waste and Product Shrinkage with Blue Yonder
Achieved initial 2% ROI with significantly more savings to follow in the coming year
Real-time pricing adjustments up to seven days in advance of product expiration
Reduction in waste, improving margins and greater product stock accuracy with SoftGrocer
The Company
The Business Challenge
Calgary Co-op faced mounting challenges with inventory shrinkage in its fresh departments within its stores. Untracked discounts and overstocking led to wasted resources and reduced profit margins, while inefficient systems hampered staff visibility. The absence of intelligent inventory management tools made it difficult for the retailer to address these persistent issues effectively.
The Solution
Blue Yonder provided Calgary Co-op with Fresh Markdown Optimization and SoftGrocer, a handheld inventory markdown scanning system, to tackle its inventory management challenges. By implementing these integrated solutions, the cooperative was able to optimize pricing strategies, effectively track discounting activities and improve staff visibility, reducing shrinkage and enhancing operational efficiency.
“We were looking for a partner on this transformational journey with us for the long haul. We’ve found that in the relationship that Blue Yonder has built with us through collaboration, responsiveness and technology.”
–Rasheed Aruna, IT PMO Manager at Calgary Co-op
How Calgary Co-op is modernizing its end-to-end, global retail operations
Addressing the need for optimized inventory management
Calgary Co-op’s legacy systems lacked the intelligence required to combat rising shrinkage levels and inefficiencies in their inventory management. This included overstocking store products and untracked discounts, leading to eroded profit margins and impacting staff visibility. Recognizing the need for real-time insights and robust optimization tools, the cooperative partnered with Blue Yonder to modernize its operations.
Leveraging AI for smarter markdown processes
Using Blue Yonder Fresh Markdown Optimization, Calgary Co-op has gained precise control over its markdown strategies. With Blue Yonder Pricing RealTime, AI predictions are made based on product sales history, inventory levels and upcoming expiration dates, allowing the cooperative to determine optimal discount levels — and make timely adjustments to pricing as products near expiration. This helps the retailer capture more significant profit margins on their fresh products such as bakery confections and meats. Within a year of implementation, the organization realized a 2% return on investment, with even greater savings expected by the end of the year.
Enabling improved in-store capabilities
With Blue Yonder SoftGrocer, Calgary Co-op has seen further enhancements to its in-store operations. The solution uses centrally controlled store data to manage all the cooperative’s products entering and leaving their locations to manage inventory valuation, shrink reduction analysis and item data modifications. Real-time point-of-sale tracking enables dynamic pricing adjustments up to seven days before product expiration, significantly improving margins, reducing waste and boosting product stock data accuracy. These capabilities provide visibility to staff and empower them to take control of their inventory.