“Mums” might love going to Iceland to get the family shop but Iceland and sister retail brand The Food Warehouse are going much further afield by literally scouring the world for new products in the frozen, chilled and grocery categories.
The Walker family owned retailers are the latest to sign up to global product discovery platform RangeMe, which offers a single place for buyers to efficiently discover opportunity from suppliers around the world; Tesco joined the platform in November last year.
By tapping into the platform, Iceland and The Food Warehouse – the UK’s leaders in frozen food – have unlocked access to more than 800,000 products from over 200,000 suppliers, which it is claimed will enable their team of buyers to source the most innovative emerging products.
In a competitive retail space, Iceland aims to maximise the potential of RangeMe to source trend-led and innovative products at scale, and speed.
The supermarket’s team of buyers will tap into RangeMe’s software to discover brands and products faster, connect with suppliers, request samples, and discuss next steps.
Iceland trading director Andrew Staniland said: “Our customers have increasingly diverse tastes and preferences and RangeMe’s technology presents us with opportunity from the global product market on one screen.
“Huge opportunity exists in collaborating. Embracing new technology, as we have with RangeMe, is key to getting ahead in the retail industry. This partnership will streamline our approach to buying and sourcing and we will continue to maximise the software to supercharge our efforts to get the best-of-the-best onto the shelves in our stores as quickly as possible.”
RangeMe first launched in 2014 and is the brainchild of founder and CEO Nicky Jackson. The platform is now used by more than 15,000 retail buyers in the UK, Benelux region, North America, and Asia Pacific.
Jackson said: “Today we welcome Iceland and The Food Warehouse, the UK’s leaders in frozen food, into our global community of retailers to transform their product sourcing experience. RangeMe offers Iceland the opportunity to seek out emerging suppliers and increase the number of new and innovative products it stocks online and instore.”
Related stories
Tesco signs deal with global product sourcing platform
Supermarket sweep: Whose shoppers are healthiest?
Fat Bastard wine mailshot gets messy for Iceland
Peter’s gone from Iceland as retailer goes vlogging
Supermarket mums like threesome
