CHICAGO, Illinois — October 17, 2017 —Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) and Rosie, today announced a new partnership at the National Grocers Association’s Fall Leadership Meetings that will bring Rosie’s industry leading online shopping platform to two-thousand independent grocery stores across the US over the next two years. The partnership will provide omni-channel online shopping programs, education on digital engagement best practices, and technology leadership to independent grocers by harnessing the aggregated cooperation of the nation’s leading wholesalers to provide an advanced, affordable eCommerce solution that enables independent retailers to compete with Amazon, Walmart, and other national retailers.
Founded in 1962 and currently one of the retail grocery industry’s largest organizations, ROFDA has more than 7,300 member retail locations and represents more than $18.7 billion in annual wholesale sales. ROFDA’s mission is “to leverage all available resources, industry best practices, and business relationships to provide added value” to independent retail grocers.
The ROFDA / Rosie partnership will offer additional value to grocers via two primary objectives. The first is to leverage ROFDA’s and Rosie’s industry knowledge and affordable pricing to help independent grocers implement best-in-class omni-channel online shopping programs. The second is to increase engagement between the independent grocer and their digital customers so they can effectively compete in a rapidly evolving online marketplace. The program will also leverage the technology solutions of other leading ROFDA suppliers that have been tightly integrated into Rosie’s digital platforms, such as DUMAC/RORC, ShopToCook, and Accelitec.
“From the very beginning, our relationship with Rosie has been based on a mutual commitment to the success of our Independent Grocers. It’s through our mutual interest that we are delighted to announce ROFDA’s eCommerce Partnership Program with Rosie. This program delivers a solid eCommerce strategy that will allow our Independent Grocers to better serve the needs of their customers today, tomorrow and well into the future,” said Francis Cameron, President and CEO at ROFDA
“Rosie has transformed the way independent grocers engage digitally with their shoppers with seven of the top 15 US wholesalers recommending Rosie to over 11,000 stores nationally,” said Rosie COO and ROFDA Advisory Council Member, Jon Ambrose. “Our mission has always been to not only provide technology solutions, but also everything a grocer needs to leverage that technology to engage shoppers and win in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Rosie and ROFDA are leveling the playing field by enabling leading local retailers and their wholesalers to cooperate, innovate, and unite to compete with national chains and online-only merchants.”
“We continue to see positive gains using Rosie as our ecommerce provider and together are making great strides in the service and functionality we provide our shoppers.” said Neal Berube, CEO of Associated Food Stores and Chairman of ROFDA. “We are making efforts to unify ROFDA’s capabilities and cooperation behind an omni-channel digital commerce program, which opens up a large market opportunity for the independent grocers that we serve. This is a positive step for our industry.”
The ROFDA / Rosie partnership was signed on October 7th and wholesalers and retailers can immediately reap the benefits of the program by contacting Rosie or their ROFDA member wholesaler.
About ROFDA
Retailer Owned Food Distributors and Associates (known as ROFDA), is an organization of wholesale food distributors that are owned by their U.S. retail independent retail grocer members. ROFDA’s focus is to create benefits for the independent retail grocer member-owners through sharing information; leveraging collective resources and developing tools to assist them in competing against big-box stores.
About Rosie
Rosie is the most trusted, locally focused eCommerce company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online from local stores. Rosie partners with leading independent retailers and their wholesalers to provide eCommerce, delivery opportunities, omni-channel marketing and deep data services. Rosie serves as the preferred eCommerce partner to a variety of wholesale cooperatives, such as Associated Food Stores (AFS), Associated Grocers of New England, Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), Bozzuto’s, CERTCO, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and Olean Wholesale Grocers. Rosie powers the online shopping platforms of major local retailers like Niemann Foods Inc., Broulim’s, Macey’s, Clark’s Market, and Buehler’s Fresh Foods. IBM selected Rosie as the Top Startup in North America in its 2014 IBM Smartcamp Competition. Visit rosieapp.com for company information and to sign up for a free account. For Rosie news and downloadable media assets, visit here. To see firsthand what retailers and their customers think about Rosie, check out this video. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twitter.
