Topco’s Product Solutions Summit Aims to Discover Innovative Items

Co-op seeking products in line with industry macrotrends

3/7/2023

Topco is looking for suppliers to grow its partnership portfolio and sourcing capabilities to provide member-owners with a greater assortment of offerings.

Topco Associates LLC will host the Topco Product Solutions Summit to diversify its supplier pool, discover new items and establish additional partnerships to help the cooperative with aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions spanning Topco’s center store program.

The co-op is currently seeking suppliers to grow its partnership portfolio and sourcing capabilities to provide member-owners with a greater assortment of private label offerings. This includes identifying new, regional and/or certified diverse suppliers that also align with current industry macrotrends, among them changing economics, food as medicine and transparency.

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“Considering the landscape of the industry, we’re experiencing a notable shift in interest towards our own brands, especially as those items become more of a point of differentiation than merely a value proposition,” said Dan Glei, EVP of merchandising and marketing at K-VA-T Food Stores and Topco operations team co-chair. “By leveraging Topco’s collective volume to provide additional paths of supply, it helps us ensure these items are available to our shoppers.”

Until March 28, prospective suppliers can apply using RangeMe. Approved suppliers will meet with Topco category and sourcing teams via the ECRM Connect platform to discuss their capabilities in more detail.

“We are continuously seeking innovative ways to support the membership and reiterating the value that commitment to Topco programs can provide,” noted Christine Heffernan, SVP of center store sourcing and supply chain at Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Topco, which boasts 64 million collective shoppers at 15,000 retail locations and online nationwide. “Working with RangeMe on this effort is another avenue we can utilize to provide member-driven solutions to ensure ample supply to support our members.”

Food City’s parent company, Abingdon, Va.-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operates 150 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama. K-VA-T is No. 68 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.