Wholesaler Parfetts has partnered with Cerve, the operating system for the food and beverage supply chain, to introduce agentic AI across its supplier data, it has announced.
The investment will turn often fragmented information into actionable commercial insight via the technology, as the employee-owned wholesaler targets £1bn in turnover.
Under the multi-year partnership, Cerve will bring together information from Parfetts’ emails, files and existing systems, giving its trading team a single clear view of supplier pricing, promotions, terms and product performance, it explained.
The investment forms part of Parfetts’ strategy to “grow intelligently and sustainably while making the business easier for suppliers to work with,” it said.
Parfetts explained that commercial information from suppliers can arrive across emails, spreadsheets and documents in numerous formats, making it time-consuming for the trading team to build a complete picture of supplier activity and to identify changes or opportunities that require attention.
Cheryl Hope, trading director at Parfetts, said: “Our supplier relationships are central to the strength of our offer, but the volume and variety of commercial information involved can make it difficult to identify and act on every opportunity.
“Cerve will give our team clearer, more consistent insight without creating additional admin for suppliers. This will support better-informed data-led conversations, faster decisions and stronger joint business plans.”
Moving forwards, suppliers will not need to log in to a new portal, learn another system or complete additional forms. They will instead continue to work through their existing channels, while Cerve interprets the information received, identifies relevant changes and highlights areas that may require action.
Growth ambition
Dan Mazig, founder and CEO of Cerve, added: “Parfetts’ scale, growth ambition and appetite for innovation make it an ideal partner for demonstrating how agentic AI can enable better decision-making and closer collaboration in food and beverage.
“With this foundation, Parfetts can deploy agents across the business and operate faster, with more control and visibility.”
Suppliers are expected to benefit from clearer reporting, more informed trading conversations and greater visibility of opportunities for joint growth. The resulting insight will also help Parfetts strengthen its ranges, promotions and availability for Go Local retailers, it is hoped.
Guy Swindell, joint managing director at Parfetts, concluded: “Our ambition to reach £1bn in turnover depends on investing in capabilities that allow us to grow intelligently and sustainably.
“Cerve will help us operate more efficiently and work even more closely with our suppliers, while ensuring the Parfetts trading team remains in control of commercial decisions. Ultimately, that will contribute to a stronger proposition for our retailers, customers and employee owners.”
The partnership is now being implemented, and the team is expected to begin using the platform in October.
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