Automating Private Label Product Development for Grocery Retailers

As the demand for private label grocery products increases, so does the complexity of executing private label product development. For grocery retailers, automation presents an opportunity to overcome the challenges of traditional manual processes and unlock significant benefits. 

Managing private label product development manually is not without hurdles. Grocers typically face common obstacles to organizing and optimizing private label development operations. Some of the most common challenges include: 

• Inefficient task management: Managing the development of private label products involves multiple departments, including product development, sourcing and procurement, compliance and quality assurance. When each of these departments operates in silos, communication breakdowns lead to delays and errors.

• Slow product development lead times: Without automation, product approvals are often slow, as manual approvals, back-and-forth communications, and disconnected workflows delay time to market.

• Risk of compliance issues and errors: Compliance is especially critical in the food and beverage industry, where even small mistakes have significant consequences. Manual processes increase the risk of data entry errors, missed compliance checks, improper labeling and claims, and inconsistent product quality.

• Difficulty managing suppliers and vendors: Handling supplier RFPs, analyzing responses, keeping track of supplier performance, ensuring compliance, and managing multiple vendors quickly becomes overwhelming without an integrated system. 

Fortunately, automating private label product development streamlines and drives efficiency for each of these areas. Implementing a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, for example, manages complexity and optimizes operations across every phase of development.  

Product Development and Specification Management

Automation transforms product development by streamlining ideation, specification management, and recipe development.  

By digitizing product specifications, teams have access to centralize, essential, real-time data, ensuring consistency and accuracy across product lines and minimizing errors. With automated workflows and always up-to-date product information, it’s easier to maintain version control of recipes, product packaging and labeling and regulatory requirements, which is especially important for food safety and compliance. 

Supplier and Vendor Management

Managing supplier relationships becomes more efficient with automation. Automated systems provide real-time updates on supplier performance, track certifications, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. 

This transparency reduces the risk of miscommunication and empowers grocery retailers to stay on top of supplier performance and quality. 

Compliance Management and Quality Assurance

In the food and beverage industry, maintaining consistent product quality and adhering to regulatory requirements is non-negotiable.  

Automation simplifies quality assurance by integrating compliance checks directly into the product development workflow. Automated compliance validations ensure that every product meets regulatory standards before it reaches store shelves. 

Product Packaging and Labeling

Packaging and labeling are areas where errors can occur, particularly when approvals are handled manually. By automating approvals, teams reduce bottlenecks and ensure that packaging meets regulatory requirements.  

Automation tools also streamline labeling updates across products, ensuring that product labels and claims are accurate, up-to-date and compliant. 

Supply Chain Disruptions

Automation empowers private label grocers to manage supply chain challenges by streamlining supplier management, enabling rapid shifts to alternative sourcing partners, and efficiently handling product specification changes. It ensures transparency, minimizes costs, and simplifies recipe adjustments when disruptions arise or raw material prices fluctuate. 

The key benefits of automating private label product development go beyond operational efficiency. In fact, automation at every stage has trickle-down effects throughout private label development operations.  

Some of the key areas most improved by automation include: 

• Time to market: Automating key tasks, such as product specification updates and approval workflows, reduces the time it takes to develop and launch new products. Faster go-to-market execution means grocery retailers capitalize on market trends and meet consumer demand more quickly. 
• Cost savings: By reducing manual data entry, chasing up-to-date product information, eliminating errors, and streamlining workflows, automation cuts costs and increases productivity. Automation also frees up employee time, enabling teams to focus on higher-value tasks, such as innovation and strategy.
• Product quality and reliability: Consistency is key to building customer loyalty in the grocery industry. Automated compliance checks ensure that every product adheres to corporate standards and meets regulatory requirements, protecting brand reputation, reducing the risk of costly recalls and maintaining consumer trust. 
• Team collaboration: With integrated project management, cross-functional teams—from product development to marketing— collaborate more effectively with automated task hand-offs built into the platform. Real-time data sharing enables teams to track progress, resolve issues quickly, and make informed decisions without waiting for manual updates. 

Implementing a platform like next-generation Centric PLM™ empowers grocery retailers to leverage automation and streamline operations from start to finish. 

Need a real-world example? 

Before implementing Centric PLM, Great Kitchens managed its product commercialization process manually, which involved time-consuming follow-ups, disconnected workflows, and the risk of errors. Teams often struggled to track task completion and manage changes efficiently, leading to delays and inefficiencies.

After implementing Centric PLM, Great Kitchens saw significant operational improvements. Product development project management was automated, saving weeks of manual follow-up per project. Tasks are now centralized, and responsible parties are held accountable, ensuring greater visibility and control over product development. 

One of the most significant benefits Great Kitchens experienced was the ability to make changes to product templates quickly and easily without needing IT support. This flexibility streamlined product development even further, improving speed to market and product quality.  

“We love the platform and find it user-friendly,” said Barb Parks, Director of Commercialization at Great Kitchens. “We’re happy with the finished product.”  

By automating private label product development with Centric PLM, Great Kitchens transformed workflows, reduced inefficiencies, and improved overall product development speed and quality. 

As the private label grocery market continues to grow rapidly, more opportunities will be available for retailers willing to leverage automation technologies to their advantage. By automating key areas of private label product development with PLM, grocery retailers reduce costs, improve product innovation, and get food and beverage products to market up to 60% faster.