As hosts of the recent biannual Advantage/Meijer Business Summit and a sponsor for Meijer’s United Way fund-raising luncheon, Advantage Solutions is “firing on all cylinders” with the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based grocery and supercenter chain.
The Business Summit, held September 14 at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids, served as an opportunity to align Advantage clients with Meijer’s long- and short-term business plans, says Chris Bethel, senior director of sales, Advantage Solutions. “We really focused on the key topics that Meijer reiterates as its top three priorities going into 2024 — On-Shelf Availability (OSA), Value and Innovation.”
The more than 250 attendees included Meijer executive leaders, directors and buyers, the Advantage Meijer Team and 85 Advantage clients, as well as Advantage leadership from business units all over the company, including COO Branded Services Jack Pestello, President of Sales Tom Michaelis, President Enterprise Client Development Jill Blanchard, and executive leaders Brandon Thornell, Greg Stevens, Shelly Jacoby, Jennifer Myers, Nick Sabala, Jason Stavrinou and Mark Teat.
Among the speakers, Meijer’s Kaitlyn McGahan, dry grocery inventory manager, kicked off the summit with a presentation on OSA, in-stocks, Meijer’s new forecasting system, on-time, in-full (OTIF), vendor expectations and more. Derek Steele, Meijer’s group VP of customer strategy and marketing, addressed Meijer’s new Retail Media Network and discussed how this will take Meijer to new heights with its omnichannel and shopper experiences as they interact with Meijer digitally as well as at the shelf. To round out the day, a panel of Meijer’s category directors focused on their FOODS strategy — an acronym for Fundamentals, Own Brand, Omnichannel, Differentiated Experience, and Support the Team.
“Thank you to the entire Meijer leadership team for attending and contributing to the summit,” says Bethel. “The feedback from all attendees, including our Advantage clients, has been stellar. These summits clearly showcase the ‘connectivity’ that all facets of the Advantage organization have with Meijer and would not happen without those strong relationships that have been developed over the years.”
He adds, “We look forward to closing the year strong with Meijer and taking all of the follow-ups coming out of the summit to help our clients and Meijer drive strong sales.”
The Meijer/United Way luncheon
One week later, on September 20, Advantage once again teamed with Meijer as sponsor for the annual United Way luncheon for 1,700 Meijer associates. The event was held at the retailer’s Grand Rapids headquarters to kick off a two-week fund-raising program. Various Advantage clients donated food for the lunch while members of the Advantage Meijer Team served Meijer associates and donated their time for a good cause. All remaining food products were donated to several local shelters.
The day before the lunch, the Advantage Meijer Team spent hours stuffing “swag bags” with donations from more than 25 Advantage clients to hand out to all of the associates attending the event. The bag giveaways allow Meijer associates to interact with the products that Advantage represents on a daily basis.
“This was the second year Advantage was able to participate in this charitable event and, based on its success, we foresee many years of partnership in the future,” says Bethel.
Amanda Ross, Meijer senior specialist community giving, was enthusiastic in her recognition of Advantage’s efforts. “From the food to the bags, and everything in between, we truly appreciate all you did to help make this event such a success for our team members,” she wrote in a note to the Advantage Meijer Team. “We appreciate and value the partnership between Advantage and Meijer. Thank you again for helping bring this event to life the last two years. We could not do it without you all!”
These two events with Meijer are just a glimpse of the many ways Advantage partners with its customers for long-term growth. “Thank you again to Meijer leadership for your continued partnership and for all of our clients who were able to join and/or support us in making these events so successful,” says Bethel.