February 1, 2023 – For the second year in a row, our great local U.S. brand Peapod Digital Labs (PDL) is seeking certified, diverse-owned businesses nationwide for participation in a virtual program aimed at showcasing products from underrepresented suppliers to the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA. Peapod Digital Labs powers growth in digital and e-commerce capabilities for the local brands of Ahold Delhaize USA and serves as the innovation lab for the U.S. businesses to help meet the changing needs of customers.
PDL is again partnering with Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM) and RangeMe to host a series of four virtual events throughout the year. Merchants from the brands of Ahold Delhaize USA will meet with potential new suppliers to learn about their expertise and consumer packaged goods.
“We launched this program in 2021 to demonstrate our commitment to bringing the products of certified, diverse-owned businesses to the grocery brands of Ahold Delhaize USA,” says Andjela Petrovic, Director of Supplier Diversity for PDL. Last year the merchants of the Ahold Delhaize USA companies met with over a hundred suppliers, fully onboarding 20 new suppliers to one or more brands of Ahold Delhaize USA, with many more still in the onboarding process.”
New for this year, PDL is teaming up with WBENC certified, women-owned business PowerToPitch to offer participating suppliers a free pitch coaching service to prepare for these events. Suppliers selected for the meetings will be offered a 75-minute group coaching session and a 30-minute 1:1 coaching session, focused on finetuning and reviewing their product pitch and increasing confidence in their pitch presentations.
"We’re excited to offer professional coaching for select candidates to help them approach the meetings with a clear and compelling pitch,” says Petrovic. “We worked with PowerToPitch during our Incubator program in 2022 and participants found the support and resources tremendously beneficial. It’s an investment to develop a skill that lasts well beyond this one meeting or event. We hope this program will continue to support and facilitate new relationships between diverse-owned suppliers and the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA.”
Certified, minority-, LGBTQ-, woman-, veteran- and disability-owned businesses with products listed in the application can apply by Friday, Feb. 3 for consideration.
Once applications for the event are submitted, representatives from Ahold Delhaize USA companies will review and select vendors for the virtual event. Suppliers not chosen for the event will still be accessible through the RangeMe registration tools and may be reviewed by Peapod Digital Labs again in the future as business needs change. The application can be found here.
The first event is scheduled for April 10 – 19, 2023. Subsequent events will be held in June, August, and October.
About ECRM
ECRM brings efficiencies and effectiveness to the buying and selling process by propelling connections between buyers and suppliers through key programs that utilize virtual and face-to-face platforms. With over 27 years of experience, ECRM’s programs promote relationships, forward thinking insights along with process efficiencies. ECRM works with companies around with world in a variety of different categories including food & beverage, general merchandise, health & beauty care, pharmacy & medical markets, and foodservice. ECRM also owns RangeMe, the industry standard online product sourcing platform.
