Sustainable Food Distribution: How Grocery Retailers Will Use Technology to Reduce Food Waste and Improve Customer Experience

This IDC Perspective illuminates how humanitarian and climate pressures are driving city, state, and national policies driving retailers to reduce food waste. Grocery retailers have answered the call, but lack of verifiable data and clear processes can hinder the best efforts and intentions of brands and employees. Emerging technologies will help grocers collect accurate data and automate processes to meet and exceed food waste reduction goals while also achieving high key performance indicators (KPIs) in customer experience (CX), employee engagement, and operational efficiency."Retailers do not have to choose between sustainability goals and the bottom line. We are finding that retailers that implement sustainability measures report improved employee engagement, new market opportunities, improved customer loyalty, and increased operational efficiency. The key is using emerging technologies and data analytics to find the sweet spots for waste reduction, then using artificial intelligence (AI) to take effective action," says Leslie Hand, group vice president, IDC Retail and Financial Insights.