Core-Mark works with Blue Yonder as it looks to digitally transform its category management strategy

Core-Mark, a specialist in fresh solutions for the convenience store industry, is integrating Blue Yonder Category Management solutions entirely to Blue Yonder’s SaaS.

It has used Blue Yonder’s SaaS solutions in its operations in the US West, Southwest, and Eastern regions and was looking to upgrade its category management capabilities in the Midwest region to the cloud to fully digitalise its space and floor offerings, consolidate its toolset for planning staff, and standardise the services offered to its customer base.

“Our goal is to offer intelligent assortment and space planning insights to our small to medium-sized c-store customers to help them succeed,” says Jim Hachtel, Director, Category Management, Core-Mark.

“To achieve this, we need to offer solutions that automate cumbersome tasks and provide robust recommendations to optimise their sales.”

“Blue Yonder is the leader in category management, so we are leveraging their capabilities to expand our use of their cloud solutions. As a result of this initiative, we expect to extend the benefits we have been experiencing for the last five years with Blue Yonder’s cloud tools to our entire US customer base.”

Core-Mark will unlock several new capabilities, such as enhanced automation through Blue Yonder Planogram Generator and the ability to target strategies based on optimised store groupings through Channel Clustering.

“By standardising and enhancing their merchandising offerings, Core-Mark will improve the speed and intelligence of their services, driving greater sales performance for their customers from coast-to-coast. This will strengthen their market position and enable further business scaling,” says Vince Beacom, President, Global Retail, Blue Yonder.

“We are excited to have been chosen to help them on this transformation and look forward to further engagements together.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Category management is a key focus area for the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, which is now open for entries.

The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.

Key 2024 dates

Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed

30th October-6th November: Judging days

Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.