Costco, Wegmans “Test Drive” New Joint Business Planning Resources

Over the past six months, The Partnering Group (TPG) has been involved in pilot programs with retailers including Costco and Wegmans to evaluate joint business planning resources that were released this past summer. The “Creating Value Today” white paper and toolkit released by NACDS and The Partnering Group (TPG) always were intended to be facilitators for action, rather than a static document. The pilot retailers engaged multiple suppliers and TPG facilitated sessions between them to “test drive” the various templates and tools, and overall feedback from retailers and suppliers has been very positive. Some of the key accomplishments of the pilot include: creation of customized JBP toolkits and meeting schedules specific for each retailer; enabling of strategic, shopper-driven discussions versus the on-going tactical discussions that happen day-to-day; involvement of cross-functional partners to ensure the reality of ideas or initiatives and to help in the planning of execution; enabling of an omni-channel focus that involved both stores and e-commerce; and development of cross-category business plans to drive incremental dollars and profits for retailers and suppliers. “Creating Value Together” Executive Summary, Toolkit