Digitalization plays a key role in Sysco’s growth recipe

Sysco Corp. has big plans to expand digital strategies to engage B2B customers through marketing and e-commerce.

The foodservice distributor, which reported sales of $19.4 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended March 30, said yesterday at its annual Investor Day conference that digital technologies are one of its key strategies as part of its “recipe for growth.” .

The company has launched its online Sysco Marketplace, where it will expand its product offerings by forwarding online orders to third-party suppliers for drop-shipping, and has also provided details of its digital personalization program on its Sysco Shop e-commerce platform.

Sysco says the marketplace built on Mirakl technology will give customers access to “over 15,000 niche products” in categories such as grocery, canned food and dry goods, which will complement the distributor’s regular offerings.

“You may already be shopping from Sysco, but if you need a heater for your outdoor patio, you can buy one now,” said Neil Russell, Sysco’s chief administrative officer.

Victoria Gutierrez, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer, said the Marketplace product offerings complement Sysco’s digital personalization program, which uses customer demand data collected from all Sysco sales departments to tailor product offerings and shopping experiences to customers. . “One of the ways we will develop this is by introducing a wider range of products offered online.”

Gutierrez demonstrated how Sysco collects data on customers’ shopping activity and then displays product recommendations tailored to different types of restaurants when they log in to personalized content pages. For example, a high-end steakhouse will receive recommendations that are different from those offered to a cheaper burger and sandwich shop.

She added that Sysco also uses its digital data and personalized product presentations to engage suppliers in joint promotions.

“This past November, We had AND chance Down start one With these campaigns With AND Very key supplier,” she said, without giving the name of the company. “They delivered financing Down support discounts specifically Down customers (who didn’t do it purchase) their products. AND They he worked With us Down Activate ON AND digital merchandising strategy This was coordinated With personalized emails AND activation NO Just With our turnover team IN the field, But their turnover team How All right.“

Gutierrez noted that this marketing campaign resulted in a “double” in the number of customers purchasing the vendor’s products through Sysco.

Sysco says its digital personalization program has been running for about three years and has already generated $450 million in sales growth. The company adds that it expects the program to generate a compound annual gross rate of 15% from 2024 to 2027.

Guiterrez will deliver the keynote address on enterprise digital commerce strategies at the EnvisionB2B forum on September 12 in Chicago.

Paul Demery is Digital Commerce 360’s editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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