Organic retailer Naturalia has begun rolling out Relex Solutions’ planning platform to sharpen how it runs perishables. The French chain started in June with fruit and vegetables. It plans to extend the software to every short-shelf-life category across its 210 stores.
Why Fresh Comes First
Fresh produce is one of Naturalia’s signatures. It is also one of its hardest categories to run: demand swings hard, shelf life is short, and unsold stock turns straight into waste. Part of Monoprix since 2008, the retailer supplies its shops mainly through two distribution centres. With Relex it wants to line supply up against real demand and firm up the daily orders stores place, trimming shrinkage while keeping shelves full.
Early Results
A first pilot on fruit and vegetables cut waste by roughly 10%. “Improving how we manage fresh categories is a priority for both customer experience and sustainability,” said Julien Tanter, who heads the Naturalia France network. He expects the platform to reduce losses across the range and give store teams clearer, data-based ordering guidance. Relex has been active in French grocery lately, having recently signed Chronodrive.
Whether that 10% figure holds as the rollout widens beyond produce is the real test.
