Hoogvliet in full Control of Inventory Management and In-Store Operations

Supermarket chain Hoogvliet was looking for a user-friendly solution to optimize both its replenishment process and its store operations. Supply Chain Manager Jan van Rijn explains why the retail company chose Colleqtive and what it has delivered. “Shelf availability has increased by 2% and shrinkage has decreased by 5%. On top of that, we now have much more control over our processes.”

Until recently, department managers in Hoogvliet stores placed their orders with the central warehouse manually. According to Jan van Rijn, this is no longer suitable for modern retail operations. “It took a lot of time to walk the aisles with the order book every day and decide from memory what to replenish for the next day. The quality of the orders was highly dependent on the person placing them and the time pressure they were under. It was always difficult to predict the exact demand for a product, especially when you had to take into account shelf life, weather, promotions, and all other variables.”

From Hoogvliet’s service center, there was insufficient insight into what was actually in stock in the stores. Store employees determined visually what was on the shelves and how much needed to be reordered. “On-shelf availability and shrinkage are crucial KPIs, but we had limited tools to measure them at the product-store level.”

Control over store inventory

Hoogvliet decided to implement a new system to manage its store processes and chose Colleqtive. “The ordering process has been replaced by a replenishment process in which sales forecasts play an important role. But to do that, you need to know exactly how much stock you currently have. Ideally, you run this calculation in real time, just before placing the order, so the most up-to-date sales can be included. A good inventory registration system is essential for this,” Van Rijn explains.

In addition, you need to give store employees the ability to fine-tune the order suggestions from the system. It’s convenient if they can do this within the same solution they use for their other tasks, such as processing goods receipts, checking expiry dates, or assisting customers.

User-friendly system

Van Rijn and his colleagues heard from other retailers that Colleqtive’s app perfectly supported their entire store process. “Every Colleqtive customer we spoke to was enthusiastic about the platform’s user-friendliness. Store employees are guided through the inventory management process in an efficient and intuitive way and also receive support for other tasks, such as checking expiry dates or looking up product information when a customer asks. The fact that you can manage your entire in-store goods process with a single application really appealed to us.”

Shrinkage down 5%

Hoogvliet has now gone live with the new store management system, and the results are already clear. “In the first store, we saw shelf availability improve by 2 percentage points after just two weeks,” says Van Rijn. “Now that we work with Colleqtive, we have real-time insight into availability. This allows us to calculate optimal replenishment orders more accurately and prioritize products that are at risk of going out of stock. The replenishment calculation also takes product shelf life into account. Now that all stores are live, we’ve already seen total shrinkage drop by 5% - a great start.”

More time for important tasks

The benefits are also noticeable on the shop floor. Now that employees no longer have to enter orders themselves, they can spend more time on other tasks, such as keeping the store tidy or helping customers. “An increasingly important task is maintaining inventory,” Van Rijn says. “With Colleqtive, this is very easy. The system integrates stock count tasks into the regular workflow and walking route of employees, choosing the most efficient moments to perform them.”

Employee enthusiasm

Store employees themselves are also excited, Van Rijn notes. “They can now work more efficiently and see that the quality of orders keeps improving. Initially, we thought the order suggestions would be adjusted frequently, but that turned out to be minimal. Only 2% of the suggestions are still manually adjusted.” The system also proves its worth for more complex orders, such as promotional products. “Department managers tell me that displays are perfectly stocked from day one of the promotion and neatly dismantled at the end.”

Control over store performance

Colleqtive also provides more control over store performance. “Managers can see at a glance how far along employees are with their tasks. If, for example, an urgent stock count is behind schedule, they can take immediate action.” Employees no longer need a lengthy handover or instructions at the start of their shift - they can see in the app what to work on. “The fact that you don’t have to run to your supervisor for every little thing is experienced as very pleasant. Onboarding new employees is also faster. The app is very intuitive, people immediately understand what to do.”

A partner with passion

Van Rijn and his supply chain team look back on the project and their choice for Colleqtive with great satisfaction. “We were looking for a solution to quickly, easily, and accurately count stock in our stores, but we now have a platform that supports the entire goods process - and that is continuously being improved,” he adds. In his view, this is Colleqtive’s big advantage over most other software providers.

“The people at Colleqtive don’t wait for us to request new features; they come up with innovations themselves, such as task management and dynamic markdowns. You can sense their passion for developing products that help retailers continuously optimize their store processes and enable employees to get the best out of themselves. For a retailer like us, it’s a real pleasure to work with such a partner.”

“With Colleqtive’s apps, we work fast, effortlessly, and error-free.” Jan van Rijn, Supply Chain Manager