Southern Co-op boosts sustainability

Southern Co-op has accelerated progress towards its sustainability goals by leveraging WasteInsight from Retail Insight

Working towards a ‘waste-free’ goal, the retailer identified the need to optimise markdown processes to cut the volume of food going to landfill while also improving sell-through rates (STRs) on reduced to clear (RTC) produce. 

Wanting to optimise these processes, Southern Co-op implementedRetail Insight data-driven food waste reduction solution, WasteInsight, harnessing the power of the solution’s dynamic markdown feature.  The product uses advanced, cognitive-driven technology to analyse a wide range of data points – from product type to seasonality – enabling grocers to calculate a product’s optimal discount price and markdown time to reduce waste while maximising STRs and minimising loss.

Last year, through its use of WasteInsight, Southern Co-op saved ~3.1 million meals from being wasted, an increase of +16% year-on-year. This had a significant impact on emissions reductions, preventing ~3,083 tonnes of food from entering landfill - the same weight as 257 double-decker buses - rising by +426 tonnes compared to the year before. This stopped ~8,323 tonnes of Co2e from being emitted.

Simon Eastwood, COO of food retail at Southern Co-op, said: “The markdown process is far more transparent and proactive than it was before.  Retail Insight’s solution enables us to steer our markdown strategy toward a more optimised way of working, with clear goals and improved visibility into outcomes.  In-store teams have found it easy and we now have much better visibility of how our store teams are complying with the markdown values and timings, which we did not previously have.”