The 2014 show focuses on bringing retailers the latest in foodservice and new technology for more efficient inventory and ordering.
The McLane National Trade Show took place Sept. 15-17 at Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel & Resort in Orlando.
This year’s show featured 185 total exhibitors, including 36 new suppliers and 1,200 attendees.
Food Focused
At this year’s show, McLane put a spotlight on foodservice, grouping all foodservice suppliers into one section to showcase their presence. “We’re concentrating a lot on technology at this show, but we also have a new push toward foodservice,” noted Tom Sicola, vice president of marketing for McLane Company, Inc.
“The convenience store industry is very focused on foodservice. And we want to make sure we’re helping our retailers see what we have to offer in foodservice to help them gain back margins they might be losing in other areas, noted Holly Veale, category manager, grocery supply chain solutions, McLane. “While we’ve always had a number of foodservice suppliers at the show, in the past they were peppered throughout the show floor. We haven’t emphasized foodservice to this degree before, so this year we’re showcasing it and making sure everyone knows about it. We’ve received great feedback from retailers and suppliers alike on the layout and it has started a great dialogue.”
McLane has executed foodservice offerings for major c-store players, including handling distribution for Wawa in its Florida market.
McLane is also introducing a new menu PDF that divides the wide array of offerings provided by its suppliers by daypart and program to help retailers quickly and easily focus in on the area they aim to emphasize in their foodservice efforts—be it bakery or a hearty breakfast—without having to wade through a list of SKUs. “We want to make sure we are helping our retailers gain foodservice dollars,” said Veale.
Advancements In Technology
“We’re presenting a lot of new technology offerings at this show,” noted Sicola.
The show held two technology summit sessions where it led retailers through a tutorial of its Direct Store Delivery (DSD) solution, CMI (customer managed inventory) solution and smart ordering solution, as well as made announcements about new technology coming in 2015.
“We’re investing heavily to provide functionality for our retailers in such a way that it is cost effective and provides more bang for their buck,” said Deon Johnson, director, business analysis and web development.
In the past, customers needed two handheld devices—one to order from McLane and one to order from other vendors. Now, with McLane’s DSD Store Delivery Solution, they need only one device for McLane and non-McLane orders and deliveries. This minimizes training, provides significant savings in equipment fees, increases visibility and allows for using common shelf tags for McLane and non-McLane products. What’s more, customers can now do lottery book receiving and activation within their device.
“Think about having one device that allows you to place an order or check in or do a physical count for every order in your store,” said Johnson.
McLane’s Customer Managed Inventory (CMI) solution is devised to level out peaks and valleys in ordering and allow retailers to better manage inventory in their stores. CMI uses point-of-sale (POS) data and a physical inventory count to automatically create replenishment orders. This prevents stores from having excess inventory. CMI has been known to provide a 40% decrease in days-on-hand inventory, providing great cost savings. And, coming in 2015, retailers will be able to use CMI not only for their McLane products, but also for non-McLane products as well.
iPhone Ordering
New in 2015 retailers will be able to order direct from their iPhones, iPads, tablets and touchscreens.
“Our smart handheld has been in the industry for six years. When you go out and buy equipment it’s expensive, and McLane has been able to lease its retailers that equipment. In 2015, we’re redoing the entire look and feel of the application with our New Mobile Ordering Approach,” noted Johnson.
This will allow retailers the same look and feel within the application no matter what hardware platform they’re using. Those using a cell phone will have the ability to download the app from iTunes or GooglePlay.
“Our industry is going toward cell phones and bigger screens and systems with the bandwidth to process images, and we’re moving forward in that same approach,” noted Johnson.
As McLane rolls out the new mobile ordering, it will also be eliminating the use of analog phone lines to send orders due to the magnitude of the data needed to send images, etc.
The ordering aspect will be ready on Nov. 30, and beta tests will begin in a couple stores in January 2015.
“We want to make sure we get it right, and what that means is we’ll start with small installs before our major rollout. We want to go to those using devices that are 5-6 years old first and get them new equipment,” Johnson added.
McLane’s 2015 show is set to take place in Denver.