Coop Group expands collaboration with Blue Yonder

In times of inflationary pressure, uncertain supply chains, and rapidly changing consumer behavior, retailers must make quick decisions to meet customer demand. For this reason, the Coop Group, a leading retailer in Switzerland and an existing customer of Blue Yonder, has expanded the use of the Blue Yonder Category Management solution to Jumbo, Coop’s do-it-yourself market chain. This measure complements the use of Blue Yonder Category Management in Coop’s supermarket network, which has been in place since 2018. The expansion was implemented by Strategix, a partner of Blue Yonder.

(Dallas/Basel) Coop looks back on a history of over 160 years. From a once small cooperative, it has grown into an international retail and wholesale company that generated sales of 34.9 billion Swiss francs (approximately 40 billion US dollars) in 2024. With around 97,000 employees, Coop operates a network of retail formats with more than 2,400 sales outlets as well as online distribution channels.

With Blue Yonder Category Management, Coop has achieved an important milestone in optimizing shelf and space planning for its supermarket network. In particular for meat products and fresh bread, the Blue Yonder solution automatically generates around 5,700 planograms each year. The innovative shelf planning solution tailors planograms to the specific needs of a market while taking into account the requirements for each product category. To further enhance efficiency, Coop plans to extend the automated planograms to other assortments.

Other benefits that Coop has gained from Blue Yonder Category Management include:

• Optimized processes: As Coop can quickly optimize existing inventory with fully automated processes, category managers can focus on strategic tasks.
• Informed decision-making: Based on data-driven insights derived from customer purchasing behavior and demand, Coop can make informed decisions regarding product assortment and placement.
• Improved customer experience: Coop can tailor assortments to the specific customer requirements of each store, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty through targeted shopping experiences.
• Higher profitability and sustainability: Coop can optimize assortments through automated planograms to better align product offerings with consumer preferences, increase sales, reduce waste, and promote sustainable practices.

Responsibility towards employees

“Coop operates with a deep sense of responsibility towards its employees, regions, and ecosystems, and we are committed to delivering both quality and a diverse range of brands and products that we can be proud of,” says Alexander Senft, Head of IT Merchandise Management Masterdata, Coop. “Excellence in category management is crucial to providing added value to our customers. We are therefore very pleased to expand our collaboration with Blue Yonder and Strategix. The extension of Blue Yonder Category Management to Jumbo’s 125 sales outlets is further proof of our commitment to innovation and a focus on a demand-driven strategy. This way, we ensure that we continue to effectively meet the changing needs of our customers.”

“Thanks to Blue Yonder Category Management with its automated planogram creation, new products are efficiently integrated into shelf planning. With the new feature, we can precisely plan where new items will be placed and determine the corresponding inventory levels for each store. This allows us to accurately establish the initial quantities needed for orders and optimize the introduction of new products across the entire supply chain. Furthermore, the solution utilizes sales data to optimize product placement and quantity on the shelves, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the inventory process,” Senft adds.

Necessary speed and agility

“We are proud of our long-standing collaboration with the Coop Group and are pleased that they have chosen to expand their presence in category management for their DIY department with us,” said Fredrik Prada, Vice President, Retail – EMEA, Blue Yonder. “Our category management solution provides Coop with the necessary speed and agility to keep pace with customer demand and the constant changes in the industry, enabling them to stay ahead of the competition and achieve their business goals.”

Photo: © Coop