Apply by Feb. 3 to meet merchants from Ahold Delhaize USA brands, including Food Lion and Giant.
Peapod Digital Labs opened applications for a program that helps diverse-owned brands get introduced to the companies of grocery company and parent Ahold Delhaize USA.
Through a partnership with Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM) and RangeMe, Peapod Digital Labs will host four virtual events throughout the year.
At the event, the suppliers will meet with merchants of Ahold Delhaize USA brands to learn about their products and expertise in a virtual showcase event. Ahold Delhaize brands include Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant and Hannaford.
Peapod Digital Labs will also offer pre-event coaching to participants in partnership with WBENC certified, women-owned business PowerToPitch. Suppliers selected for the meetings will be offered a 75-minute group coaching session and a 30-minute one-on-one coaching session to help hone their pitch.
"We’re excited to offer professional coaching for select candidates to help them approach the meetings with a clear and compelling pitch,” said Andjela Petrovic, director of supplier diversity for PDL, in a statement. “We worked with PowerToPitch during our Incubator program in 2022 and participants found the support and resources tremendously beneficial. It’s an investment to develop a skill that lasts well beyond this one meeting or event. We hope this program will continue to support and facilitate new relationships between diverse-owned suppliers and the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA.”
This is the second year that the program will be held. Last year, merchants met with over 100 suppliers, and 20 new suppliers were fully onboarded to one of the Ahold Delhaize USA brands. Others are still in the onboarding process.
Certified, minority-, LGBTQ-, woman-, veteran- and disability-owned businesses with products listed in the application can apply here by Friday, Feb. 3, for consideration.
The first event is scheduled for April 10-19, 2023, with subsequent events expected in June, August, and October.
While it works to expand on the supplier side, ecommerce arm Peapod Digital Labs is also ramping up its offerings to merchants. The company announced last year that it will build an in-house retail media network with a unified on-site and off-site platform, as well as a dashboard for campaign results.
Campbell Soup Company CEO Mark Clouse offered thoughts on messaging amid inflationary shifts in consumer behavior.
After months of elevated inflation and interest rate hikes that have the potential to cool demand, consumers are showing more signs of shifting behavior.
It’s showing up in retail sales data, but there’s also evidence in the observations of the brands responsible for grocery store staples.
The latest example came this week from Campbell Soup Company. CEO Mark Clouse told analysts that the consumer continues to be “resilient” despite continued price increases on food, but found that “consumers are beginning to feel that pressure” as time goes on.
This shows up in the categories they are buying. Overall, Clouse said Campbell sees a shift toward shelf-stable items, and away from more expensive prepared foods.
There is also change in when they make purchases. People are buying more at the beginning of the month. That’s because they are stretching paychecks as long as possible.
These shifts change how the company is communicating with consumers.
Clouse said the changes in behavior are an opportunity to “focus on value within our messaging without necessarily having to chase pricing all the way down.”
“No question that it's important that we protect affordability and that we make that relevant in the categories that we're in," Clouse said. "But I also think there's a lot of ways to frame value in different ways, right?”
A meal cooked with condensed soup may be cheaper than picking up a frozen item or ordering out. Consumers just need a reminder. Even within Campbell’s own portfolio, the company can elevate brands that have more value now, even if they may not always get the limelight.
The open question is whether the shift in behavior will begin to show up in the results of the companies that have raised prices. Campbell’s overall net sales grew 5% for the quarter ended April 30, while gross profit margins held steady around 30%. But the category-level results were more uneven. U.S. soup sales declined 11%, though the company said that was owed to comparisons with the quarter when supply chains reopened a year ago and expressed confidence that the category is seeing a longer-term resurgence as more people cook at home following the pandemic. Snacks, which includes Goldfish and Pepperidge Farm, were up 12% And while net sales increased overall, the amount of products people are buying is declining. Volumes were down 7%.
These are trends happening across the grocery store. Campbell is continuing to compete. It is leading with iconic brands, and a host of different ways to consume them. It is following that up with innovation that makes the products stand out. Then, it is driving home messaging that shows consumers how to fit the products into their lives, and even their tightening spending plans.
Campbell Soup is more than 150 years old, and has seen plenty of difficult economic environments. It is also a different business today, and will continue to evolve. At the end of the day, continued execution is what’s required.
“If it's good food, people are going to buy it, especially if it's a great value,” Clouse said.
