Booths Picks RELEX to Boost Fresh Produce Replenishment and Promotions

LONDON, January 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Booths, Britain's leading regional supermarket chain, has become the first high street retailer in the UK to pick RELEX, Europe's fastest growing supply chain development solution provider, to help improve its replenishment management.

Booths has always prided itself on offering top quality produce and was impressed by the results RELEX's existing clients had achieved, especially in getting the best results from promotions and improving the automated replenishment of fresh goods, where some have cut spoilage by as much as 40%.

Booths already had an integrated in-house solution however the company saw the need for a better and more sophisticated approach to its forecasting.  

RELEX's demand forecasting and inventory management systems have earned an impressive reputation for helping retailers to cut fresh produce spoilage, reduce stock levels, boost availability and manage events like seasonal campaigns and the impact of weather.

The systems analyse vast flows of historic data and identify demand patterns for individual products, stores and events which can be used to help predict demand in comparable future situations.

"Booths is known for great service, for listening to its customers and for delivering the very best quality," says Andrew Rafferty, the company's IT & Supply Director, "but our customers won't make allowances if we don't match or better the big supermarkets for freshness and availability."

"We need to meet the challenges of a modern, grocery environment in managing fresh, ambient, chilled and frozen produce lines across a variety of store sizes and product ranges. The bar is always getting higher and no one in the sector can afford to be complacent."

When looking for a solution Booths wanted one that would wrap around their operations rather than force them to work around the system. Andrew Rafferty was impressed by RELEX's technology and the company's attitude.

"Our initial impressions were that RELEX offers flexibility both in terms of their solution's adaptability and in their approach to working with partners" he says. "They offer a very sensibly priced pilot that minimises their clients' risk. It's just one of many signs they're committed to a successful outcome and that in turn gives me confidence we can improve both our performance and our bottom-line."

RELEX have already carried out a pre-study with Booths running their historic data through RELEX systems to demonstrate the potential gains. The pilot is due to begin in January.

"Booth's is an ideal partner for RELEX," says Tommi Ylinen, RELEX's Head of UK Operations. "Not only do they have a reputation for excellence but they're exactly the sort of company that we can help; they need to be as good as or better than their larger competitors, they need the best technology and it needs to match their budget."

"We've shown companies across Europe, typically turning over between £100M-£5Bn, that they can not only afford great systems to help optimise their supply chains - but that they simply can't afford not to!"

Notes to Editors:

About Booths

Booths is a family owned and operated independent supermarket with 29 stores across Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Booths is committed to sourcing products locally and seasonally from the counties it serves, a fresh approach to retailing that has earned the company its deserved position as the UK's leading regional supermarket. Booths works hard to engage with the wider community and develop partnerships with local suppliers, producers, schools and like-minded organisations.

About RELEX

RELEX is Europe's fastest growing provider of supply chain systems, to retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

RELEX clients in 12 European countries have become more efficient and more profitable through our pioneering demand forecasting, inventory optimisation and actionable analytics. Their results speak for us with typical spoilage reductions of 40%, inventory 30% and on shelf availability at 98%+ they save tens of millions of pounds and improve their customer service.

Founded in 2005 by a group of leading logistics scientists from Helsinki University of Technology, Deloitte has named RELEX the fastest growing company in its field in Europe, the Middle East and Africa three years running. The first choice of retailers across much of Northern Europe RELEX employs around 65 people at its offices in London, Stockholm, Wiesbaden and its Helsinki headquarters.

For further information relating to Booths, please contact Jennifer Middleton at Lemon Zest on +44(0)1757-268283 or email [email protected].

For more information: http://www.relexsolutions.co.uk

RELEX EMEA
Marika Pirhonen, Marketing Director
Phone: +358-50-433-1003
Email: [email protected]

RELEX UK
Jonathan Kent
+44(0)7981-803144
[email protected]

SOURCE RELEX Oy