UNFI launches online marketplace to strengthen digital development

US natural foods company UNFI has been working to offer a wider variety of conventional and natural goods and has seen sales increase over the past year due to increased grocery demand, with digital sales increasing 97% in the second quarter .

Today, the company announced the launch of its online Community Marketplace , accessible through UNFI’s existing e-commerce site, Easy Options. First announced during UNFI’s earnings call last month, UNFI’s new marketplace will expand the company’s product offerings to more than 250,000 core products, including emerging brands.

The Community Marketplace is offered through UNFI’s Easy Options ordering site, which is targeted at small and medium-sized retailers for order fulfillment. The site caters to suppliers by streamlining the process, as well as the needs of emerging companies, and provides sales analytics and other business intelligence capabilities.

“The past year has demonstrated the importance of expanding our online product offerings and creating new approaches to meet evolving consumer trends and demands , ” Tom Kraus, vice president of e-commerce at UNFI, said in a statement.

It is understood that for suppliers, through this virtual market, suppliers can immediately access UNFI's digital infrastructure to promote and sell their products to UNFI's broad customer base. Approved suppliers will maintain full control over inventory, order management, pricing and shipping costs, while testing the possible expansion of traditional distribution in the joint guarantee network.

UNFI said that through the Community Market, customers of all sizes can access more than 20,000 food and health products, which are supplied by UNFI's distribution network without minimum order size, ordering frequency requirements or membership fees. Currently, hundreds of Community Market SKUs are available through the Easy Options website, but according to the distributor, more items will be added as more suppliers join the platform.

Grocery e-commerce has experienced rapid development in the past year, and we believe that the community market launched by UNFI has enabled the company's e-commerce to be further developed and improved.

UNFI

USA

E-commerce

groceries