Associated Wholesale Grocers Enhances Digital Commerce Across 3,500 Independent Grocers
Associated Wholesale Grocers’ (AWG) has teamed with digital marketing solution provider RSA America to expand access to loyalty, e-commerce, mobile app, retail media and AI-driven shopper engagement capabilities for AWG's network of more than 1,100 member companies and 3,500 stores.
The partnership expands independent grocers' access to integrated digital commerce and retail media platform offerings through a scalable global app model, the company said. AWG's goal is to help its members avoid tech fragmentation while widening their revenue opportunities.
"The independent grocery channel is evolving rapidly, and our members need modern digital capabilities such as loyalty, e-commerce, retail media and AI-driven insights without the complexity or overhead that is typically associated with them," AWG SVP of Sales and Support James Neumann explained. "The addition of RSA's platform, combined with AWG's centralized support model, gives our members even more options for a practical path to launch quickly, engage shoppers more meaningfully and unlock new revenue streams that were previously out of reach."
AWG's partnership gives members access to RSA's commerce intelligence platform, which allows retailers to unify loyalty, digital promotions, e-commerce and retail media. AWG said independent grocers will be able to better understand their shoppers, activate targeted promotions and monetize first-party data.
"Independent grocers have always had the entrepreneurial spirit and community trust to compete,” RSA CEO Ravi Achanta said. “Our partnership with AWG combines AWG's unparalleled cooperative reach with RSA's unified commerce intelligence platform, giving independent retailers tools to know their shoppers better, activate personalized offers and build lasting loyalty through a scalable model that fits independent retailers of every size. This gives independents the competitive advantage they've always deserved."
AWG said it will manage app deployment, digital offers, personalization and other key elements for its members through the partnership, while RSA will be responsible for the underlying infrastructure. RSA currently provides digital infrastructure across 430 AWG retail locations connected with 2.5 million shoppers.
Kansas City, Kan.-based AWG is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, operating throughout 33 states from nine wholesale division support centers. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services and pharmaceutical products.
This article was originally published on P2PI sibling brand Progressive Grocer.
