In times of such uncertainty food distribution companies are having to find ways to save money whenever possible. One key area that is often overlooked is the issue of spoilage and waste. The USDA estimates that between 30% and 40% of the food supply is wasted currently, and many companies are beginning to focus on finding ways to cut down on waste within their operations. Prime FoodService offers food distribution companies several key tools to avoid spoilage and waste by helping clients sell the right product to the right customer at the right time.
Real Time Dashboards
Prime FoodService gives users on-the-spot information through real time dashboards. These dashboards are role-based, allowing users in warehouses, sales, and purchasing positions to get specific, up-to-date information about what items are in stock and which items are about to spoil. By acting on these alerts in a timely manner product that is on the verge of being wasted an instead be moved proactively.
Increasing Up and Cross Sales
Prime FoodService offers users the ability to build order guides for each of their customers, giving users the ability to see which items a client orders regularly, all in one place. On top of this, items can be manually added in, giving sales reps a leg up in the up-sell and cross-sell process by allowing them to have the cross-sell items in advance, all in the same place as the order they are working on. By setting up cross-sell success clients enable quicker movement of product, resulting in less waste in warehouse.
Substitutions Prevent Excess Stock
By allowing substitutions to be made quickly and easily within the software Prime FoodService allows users to keep excess stock from spoiling. Easy substitutions, such as one grade of beef for another, are common, and not only serve the customer by ensuring they are not without product, even when their preferred grade is not available, but also keeps the stock of alternative options low, leaving less excess at risk of spoiling.
Automation for Specials and Promotions
With so many moving parts in a business it is inevitable that things fall through the cracks. Too often one of those things is notifying customers or potential customers of special pricing or promotions. With Prime FoodService’s automation, customers never have to miss out on another special or promotion. Users can define which customers receive which offers and alerts, meaning that ‘special’ stock is less likely to be over-ordered and sit, spoiling.
Staying Top of Mind with Customers, Preventing a Double Blow
Especially in the current economic environment, staying top-of-mind with customers is vital for any food distribution business. It is the key to retaining clients and ensuring profitability. Prime FoodService through Acumatica is a complete ERP solution designed to enable companies to stay top-of-mind with their customers with a wide variety of tools designed to ensure top level customer service. This, when combined with the aforementioned tools designed to prevent waste and spoilage, helps guard against a common double-blow: losing customers due to unhappiness leading to stock sitting and spoiling due to lack of customers.
Prime FoodService through Acumatica is a complete ERP solution designed to give food distribution companies the tools they need to limit waste and spoilage while remaining top-of-mind with customers, ensuring greater efficiency and savings.