Scotmid Co-op leverages Retail Insights AI solution to drive down food waste in stores

Scotmid Co-op, Scotland's largest independent cooperative, has extended its partnership with Retail Insight, a provider of store operations execution software, to reduce food waste and enhance operational efficiencies in-store.  

Launched 165 years ago, Scotmid Co-op now operates around 300 retail outlets across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England across its businesses, including Scotmid Food, Semichem and its Funeral Directors and Post Office branches. 

Founded with corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the core of its values, Scotmid Food is focused on reducing its carbon footprint and the amount of waste that goes to landfill, identifying this as a ‘key priority’ in its 2023 Annual Report.  

Working towards its target of achieving zero waste going to landfill, in 2021 it partnered with Retail Insight, leveraging its cloud-based software solution WasteInsight to increase its volume of sell-through while reducing its waste footprint. 

Have you spotted our very hungry visitor in the Invergowrie store?🐛👋

Check out the shop window that was decorated for the Invergowrie Primary School #worldbookday2024 trail this week📚 pic.twitter.com/NVGOOHA7za

— Scotmid Co-operative (@Scotmid) March 8, 2024

It was able to optimise price reductions on expiring goods using a data led model, which ensured more food ended up in shoppers’ baskets, rather than going to landfill. 

This resulted in product sell-through rising 1.83% year on year, and 42.7 tonnes of food waste was saved from Scotmid Co-op’s store estate, equating to 37 tonnes of CO2 reduction in landfill impact. 

Dan Macnamara, Head of Category at ScotMid Co-op, comments: “Our work with Retail Insight has been pivotal in reducing waste. The product has been transformative and supports us in to getting closer to our business operations and challenges.”

“From our pilot through to the roll-out across the whole estate, we have seen continuous improvements that reduce the volume of food waste, improve store operations, and positively impact our bottom line." 

"We look forward to a continued relationship with Retail Insight. Their team has helped us resolve some of our most pressing issues, and the dynamic food waste markdown solution has freed considerable resources to allow us to focus on delivering the best in-store experience for our customers.” 

Kieran O’Brien, Client Director at Retail Insight, says: "We are very excited to continue our work with Scotmid Co-op. We have been able to significantly reduce food waste tonnage year-on-year and are enthusiastic about our enhanced roadmap designed to further improve performance."