PROVIDENCE, RI - Good news is in store for the retail partners of United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI). Forging an agreement with ECRS, a Certified Evergreen™ transaction and retail solutions provider, the distributor is expanding access to its UNFI Professional Services suite to new and existing CATAPULT retail users.

“UNFI retail customers utilize our scale, insights, and innovative offerings to deliver a differentiated value proposition, and our agreement with ECRS will help these retailers continue to grow and thrive,” said UNFI President Chris Testa. “It is imperative in today’s environment that retailers use technology to simplify their business and elevate the shopping experience, giving them more time to focus on their consumers. This is another example of how our services offering and key business partnerships are making a difference for our customers and helping them compete in today’s challenging marketplace.”

As the companies explained in a recent release, the agreement provides for a direct and formal working relationship, particularly around Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities, and empowers UNFI field associates through ECRS retail automation technology training. The CATAPULT retail automation solution connects inventory and supply chain, customer loyalty, point-of-sale, self-service, online ordering, and other critical retail operations technologies in real-time.

UNFI customers already optimizing CATAPULT will experience an elevated customer experience in a seamless, cost-saving solution.

ECRS Gateway currently hosts over 2,000 EDI accounts across UNFI’s retail customer network. With the help of ECRS’ subscription-based supply chain software, ECRS Gateway®, and UNFI’s Data Exchange program, UNFI retail customers can easily automate supply chain processes and simplify the ordering experience, as CATAPULT users can electronically submit a variety of documents, including purchase orders and receive invoices, promotional files, and catalog data.

“UNFI provides a great deal of technological services at a scale that can give our mutual retail customers tremendous leverage in the marketplace,” said Pete Catoe, ECRS Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “This agreement allows ECRS to play an active role in ensuring our UNFI customers can take full advantage of these competitive differentiators. ECRS has been working closely with UNFI for over two decades, and we are very appreciative of the organization and its people.”

Click here to learn more about this alliance and the cutting-edge advancements it provides.

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United Natural Foods, Inc.