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Delhaize has deployed SymphonyAI’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand forecasting and replenishment technology across 600 affiliated stores and five distribution centres in Belgium, achieving forecast accuracy of up to 90 per cent while reducing shrink and safety stock requirements.
AI Forecasting Targets Grocery Supply Chain Efficiency
Delhaize, part of Ahold Delhaize Group, has expanded its use of SymphonyAI technology to automate and improve forecasting and replenishment across its grocery supply chain.
SymphonyAI’s Demand Forecasting and Replenishment solutions generate daily order proposals at both distribution centre and store level, replacing more reactive and manually intensive ordering processes with an exception-based approach.
The technology integrates with SAP Retail and incorporates factors including supplier calendars, lead times, truck constraints, promotional pre-orders and available inventory across the network.
At distribution centre level, weekly forecast accuracy has reached between 80 and 85 per cent for dry and frozen products and between 85 and 90 per cent for fresh categories, excluding promotional periods.
Improved Forecasting Reduces Shrink and Safety Stock
Forecast accuracy across affiliated stores has increased by approximately five percentage points on average and by up to 10 percentage points at highly seasonal locations.
Across product categories, improvements compared with the previous approach reach up to 10 percentage points depending on product rotation and item type.
Delhaize said distribution centre shrink has decreased across all departments without compromising service levels for its affiliate partners. Working capital has also improved as higher forecast accuracy has reduced safety stock requirements.
Géraldine Durant, Supply Chain Replenishment and Master Data Director at Delhaize, said: “Building a best-in-class supply chain on a pure B2B affiliate model is a different challenge than running a traditional retail operation. You cannot push inventory risk downstream to your partners — forecasting has to be right, or you absorb the cost.
“We have worked with SymphonyAI for more than 15 years, and the decision to move to their AI-based forecasting models was one we made with confidence. The results across both our distribution network and affiliated stores have validated that decision. We are continuing to improve forecast accuracy each year, and our roadmap with SymphonyAI gives us a clear path to raising the bar further.”
Delhaize has also moved towards exception-based order reviews, allowing replenishment teams to focus on critical alerts and higher-value activities rather than manually validating every proposal.
Approximately 20 per cent of distribution centre order proposals are now automatically approved without user intervention. Delhaize is targeting an increase to 50 per cent as the number of participating suppliers expands.
For orders requiring review, the modification rate is approximately 10 per cent in dry categories and 20 per cent in fresh.
At store level, managers use handheld devices to review a small number of products each day, concentrating on exceptions such as unusually high orders and near-empty shelves.
Delhaize Targets Further Supply Chain Forecasting Gains
Supported by SymphonyAI’s Managed Services team, Delhaize said it continues to improve forecast accuracy by between 1.5 and two percentage points annually.
Manish Choudhary, President of Retail at SymphonyAI, said: “Delhaize operates one of the more demanding retail supply chain environments we work in: a multi-echelon network, a high-fresh assortment, and a B2B pull model that removes the inventory buffer most retailers rely on.
“What they have built with our Forecasting AI platform is a replenishment operation that improves continuously, not just at go-live. That compounding accuracy gain is the commercial case for AI in grocery supply chain, and it is exactly what our platform is designed to deliver.”
This article was produced by the editorial team at Food & Beverage Outlook and published as part of the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines.
Outlook Publishing delivers industry insights, company stories, and sector coverage across food production, manufacturing, supply chains, construction, healthcare, mining, and sustainability.
Food & Beverage Outlook provides ongoing coverage of organisations and developments shaping the global food and beverage sector.
