Albertsons Companies will enhance its fresh offerings with Afresh Technologies' AI-powered predictive ordering and inventory solutions to reduce waste and offer the freshest product for customers, according to the technology provider. Afresh will help Albertsons optimize fresh forecasting, inventory, ordering, merchandising, and operations.
Albertsons will deploy a state-of-the-art AI technology platform in all its stores to further differentiate its fresh offerings while helping to reduce food waste, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving water.
"By partnering with Afresh, we’re now able to improve our processes to better manage our fresh product supply, and provide our store teams with a tool to better predict demand and monitor inventory," said Susan Morris, executive vice president and COO of Albertsons Companies, in a statement. "Managing these variables ultimately allows us to offer our customers even higher quality fresh products and further reduce our food waste."
As one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Loss and Waste Champions, Albertsons will be able to achieve, with solutions like Afresh, its goal to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030. Additionally, Albertsons is committed to setting a science-based carbon reduction goal, and food waste will help reduce the carbon footprint within the company's value chain.
"We know that fresh food drives the global grocery industry, yet the lack of technology for fresh departments causes immense food waste and expensive losses,” said Matt Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Afresh, in a statement. “We're honored to support Albertsons Cos.' investment in, and demonstrated velocity of, technology and innovation, which is making the grocery experience better and more efficient for both the retailer and its shoppers.”
Related: Walmart Uses AI for Out-of-Stock Substitutes; Smithfield Commits to Halving Food Loss, Waste by 2030.