Nisa retailer Mike Sohal is looking to mitigate industry-wide inflationary pressures by developing a technology that will automatically determine what wholesaler can offer him the cheapest price for every order.
Sohal compared the technology to My Supermarket, which allows shoppers to compare prices from all the major superstores, describing his solution as “clever enough to work out the difference and cheapest wholesaler per unit”.
To use it, users upload an order to a comparison platform. The platform’s database, which the retailer has also created independently, stores weekly-updated price information from wholesalers including Nisa, Booker, Bestway and Parfetts.
It will then create orders for the various wholesalers to show where the cheapest products can be found.
“All major wholesalers provide digital price list order forms, which carry very detailed information regarding products,” Sohal told The Grocer.
“The price list order forms also have promotions dates, so if a product is in promo period the system will ignore the standard price and use the promo price to do the comparison. We pull all of these wholesalers’ information once a week into our database. Once a week update is enough to keep records up to date.”
As a Nisa retailer, Sohal said to avoid a low order or no order levy, and to earn rebates, he must still buy 40 cases of fresh and frozen, and a minimum of 200 cases of ambient, on their agreed order days.
“I used to be a 99% Nisa-supplied retailer, but now due to price increases, more and more volume is going outside and my spend has dropped to 60%,” he said.
“We have a responsibility to look after our customers, provide them with good offers and charge reasonable prices so that they have a reason to choose our store.”
The platform is set to be ready by mid-April. Sohal added he wasn’t looking to “put it on the shelf” for sale.
“It’s just our own technology that purely allows us to work smarter, make savings and maintain profits,” he said. ”It’s about survival.”
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