Cub Deploys Upshop’s Expiration Date Management Technology

Program is currently in 55 stores, allowing associates to proactively manage freshness

6/5/2023

Cub invests in Upshop's shelf-life management solution to make sure expired products never end up in shopping carts.

Minnesota food retailer Cub has implemented Upshop’s Expiration Date Management product across 55 stores. The partnership is expected to deliver over $1.5 million in annual shrink savings to Cub, with a potential for even greater savings as the program expands into center store grocery. The rollout marks an expansion of the partnership between the two companies, which has been in place for labeling/scales management, recipe management, traceability, and inventory management for more than a decade.

As a provider of AI-driven retail software for store operations, Upshop's technology offers targeted notifications and workflow guidance to ensure that soon-to-expire products are properly rotated and, if necessary, removed from shelves before expiring. This initiative enables Cub to ensure that customers consistently receive the highest quality products.

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“Cub has been putting the communities in Minnesota at the center of our stores for over 50 years. Expiration Date Management is another core investment which ensures the freshest offerings across the store, without additional effort for our associates,” said Dan Triplett, VP of sales, merchandising, and marketing of Cub.

Following an initial pilot in the Stillwater store last fall, Cub began deployment of Upshop Expiration Date Management in March, with a rollout to 55 Cub stores completed in under four weeks. The program has been well received by employees, who appreciate the ease of use and the ability to better manage inventory.

“Upshop’s solution goes beyond store enablement, giving our operations and merchandising leadership teams the reporting needed to ensure long-term success and further optimize our inventory assortment,” commented Luke Anderson, CIO of Cub.

"We are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Cub to help them continue to be recognized by shoppers for fresh foods and an all-around enjoyable shopping experience,” added Shamus Hines, CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Upshop. "Upshop’s entire platform is designed to make the day-to-day workload easier for store associates, with Expiration Date Management empowering the Cub team to spend less time managing inventory and more time dedicated to serving shoppers. We look forward to continuing to work with Cub and other retailers to drive significant cost savings and improve operations."

Expiration Date Management is already being used by other grocers such as Raley’s, Southeastern Grocers, Price Chopper, and Lunds & Byerlys. These grocers have all reportedly been able to reduce on-shelf expired items through automated notifications while receiving real-time expired shrink analytics.

Owned by United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), Stillwater, Minn.-based Cub operates 80 grocery stores and pharmacies in Minnesota and Illinois. It also offers a selection of wines, champagne, rosé, craft beer, cider and mixers through its 31 Cub Wine & Spirits and Cub Liquor stores. Providence, R.I.-based UNFI, delivers a wide variety of products to customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 20 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.