Parfetts and JW Filshill have teamed up with Wholepal, a new AI-powered platform designed to steamline how product data is shared across the grocery supply chain.
The wholesalers, which are the first to go live with Wholepal, are aiming to tackle one of the industry’s “most persistent bottlenecks”, by replacing the manual, error-prone process of completing new product forms.
The traditional process, which can take up to 12 weeks before a product can go live, sees suppliers store required technical product data in an internal document, including in a PDF, Word, or Excel format. This slows routes to market for suppliers and creates operational drag for wholesalers, the businesses said
This data includes product name, description, allergens, ingredients, nutritional information, pack formats, barcodes, shelf life, storage conditions and certifications.
Wholepal has streamlined this process. Using AI, suppliers upload their product specification documents directly to the platform, where the information is extracted, structured and stored automatically. Following supplier verification, the product data is then shared instantly with wholesale partners on the platform – removing the need for time-consuming manual work.
For wholesalers, it means products can be made available for distribution “dramatically faster” than the traditional process, while also ensuring product data remains accurate and updated without delay.
“Time and again, I saw product sales slowed down by admin,” said Wholepal founder Victoria Lawson. “The way product information is shared hasn’t fundamentally changed in decades. It’s manual, inconsistent and outdated.
“Having Parfetts and JW Filshill go live is a hugely important milestone for us. These are two highly respected wholesalers who understand the operational realities of the sector, so to see them adopt Wholepal is a strong validation of the platform and the problem it’s solving.”
Parfetts trading director Cheryl Hope added: “Anything that helps us range products faster, reduce manual work and improve data quality is a real benefit. Wholepal gives us a more efficient and consistent way to work with suppliers, while supporting quicker routes to market.”
JW Filshill chief commercial officer Chris Miller said: “Product data is fundamental to how we operate, but the way it’s traditionally been shared hasn’t kept pace with the rest of the industry. Wholepal helps remove friction from supplier onboarding and data updates, giving us greater confidence in the accuracy of the information we receive while saving valuable time for our teams.”
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