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Retail Business Services has eyes on the future of the retail industry. In fact, Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA, and a small group of retailers and suppliers recently made such great strides in developing global industry standards for product data that GS1, a not-for-profit organization that develops and maintains the most widely used global standards for efficient business communication, created a new award to acknowledge the groundbreaking work. Serving a portfolio of local grocery brands including Stop & Shop, Food Lion, GIANT/MARTIN’S, Hannaford, Giant Food and Peapod, which collectively span 23 U.S. states, operate more than 2,000 stores and have some of the most extensive supply chain operations on the East Coast, Retail Business Services leverages scale to drive synergies and provides innovative solutions, as well as industry-leading expertise, insights and analytics to local brands to support their strategies.

GS1 presented its first ever Industry Collaboration Award to Jeffrey Cree, Demand Planning Manager for Retail Business Services, and others at its Sept. 10 Industry & Standards Event in Lisbon, Portugal. The award honors industry members who have shown exceptional dedication to the development of GS1 standards and collaboration.

Cree represented Retail Business Services at the end and has helped spearhead the initiative. He was one of three individuals to receive the inaugural award.

“I’m humbled and excited,” Cree said of the recognition. “It really is an honor to be recognized by an organization as prestigious as GS1.”

The award honors Retail Business Services’ work in creating global standards for product data exchange. These exchanges and standards are vital to the future of retail, Cree explained, and help simplify processes across the industry.

“Flip over a box of cereal and look at the barcode. That’s global data standards,” he said. “We all have to agree how that barcode is structured or else it’s only good at one store.”

In recent years, he notes, data exchange has decreased. This is an unexpected side effect of increased product attributes, local customization, and confusion over which attributes should be used. And when suppliers do share product data, it becomes a complex dance that carries a high price tag.

“All of this is leading to a decrease in the quality and completeness of product data, which ultimately impacts consumers,” Cree said.

At the 2019 Consumer Goods Forum, Retail Business Services and other retailers and suppliers put their heads together to come up with a solution.

“We looked at what we really need to know about a product to get it from the field or the factory to the shelf – whether that’s a physical shelf or a digital shelf,” Cree explained. “In this case, we need to collaborate, and we need to work together as an industry to solve this issue. What we found is that as retailers and suppliers, our needs around product data are very similar.”

The group formed a pilot panel to come up with solutions – which included Retail Business Services and two other multinational retailers -- and took their work to GS1 for feedback.

At that point, Cree said, the goal was global. The working group aimed to identify data attributes and create definitions, usage statements and examples that could be used by suppliers and retailers worldwide. According to Cree, having this simple set of standards will increase the quality of data received and will ultimately improve the customer experience.

It's work he says wouldn’t be possible without the support from Retail Business Services.

“I’m so fortunate to work in a department and for a company that really values data standards and is willing to invest in improving the landscape not only for our company but for the entire industry,” he said.

Cree added he hopes the award inspires others in the industry to collaborate and break new ground.

“I think this award helps shine a spotlight on the investment that organizations and individuals are making into global data standards and what those standards ultimately mean to consumers,” he said. “I hope it inspires others to step forward and look at the contributions they’re making, and to partner to continue advancement in this space.”

Photo: Jeffrey Cree, second from left, with fellow award recipients and GS1 representatives.