Faced with challenges such as competition and low profit margins,, the US grocery retailer turned to

Accenture for a new procurement operating model and to provide project management support,
aiming at reducing costs while providing better customer service and offering products at lower
prices.

The Challenge: SuperValu, Inc is  US based grocery retailer, headquartered at Minnesota.Low profit
margins in the business, increased competition as well as a significant decrease in buying power as a
result of recent divestitures, led to Supervalu having to cut expenses by $200 million in the next three
years.

The Solution: As part of the overall objective, the company is looking to reduce indirect procurement
expenditures(eg, marketing,HR,Travel,faclity management) by $50-$75 million over the next three
years. Accenture will provide overall project management services that include strategic sourcing
support to increase effectiveness of Supervalu's team on sourcing projects that are currently planned
and will also bring additional capacity for future sourcing projects in indirect spend categories.
Teams from Products FE&I, practice and Accenture Operations will also assess the current
procurement operating model and design a new one based upon this assessment. Finally, we
implement a Value Management Office to oversee the new processes.

The Outcome: With our help, Supervalu will be able to achieve its cost reduction goal and improve its
demand planning and increase its bottom line. Its customers should benefit from an enhanced
customer experience by getting the goods they want at a competitive price.

This is a significant win for the Products Retail Industry in North America at a whitespace ciient and
should lead to future opportunities.