David’s Cookies Streamlines Supplier Collaboration With Ariba Discovery

Finding the right partner is critical to the success of retailer-supplier relationships, and can help increase profits for both parties.

To establish a structured lead generation process and develop more long-term business relationships with partners, David’s Cookies implemented Ariba Discovery, a solution that matches business buyers and sellers.

Ariba Discovery enables product manufacturers and suppliers to find new trading partners that meet specific business needs and goals. The platform combines “a proprietary matching engine with unique profile information to help buyers identify the right trading partners and sellers to generate more relevant leads,” according to an Ariba press release.

Within 30 days of implementing the Ariba tool, David’s cookies connected with more than 10 qualified leads, one of which resulted in a multi-million dollar contract, according to Brent Maloy, VP of National Accounts for David’s Cookies.

“In our busy world, retailers don’t have time to find out if suppliers have the ability to fulfill their needs — especially [retailers] that need to be served through distribution centers,” Maloy said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “These are the tools that our future should look into. Leadership today should pay attention to the changes within these tools, and use them to advance their businesses.”

Prior to implementing Ariba Discovery, David’s Cookies leveraged traditional lead generation tools and social channels to promote the brand. The retailer “focused on directories of chain restaurants to find the most recent data about key accounts, but that was very tedious,” Maloy said. The company also sought leads through Twitter and Facebook, but that strategy “didn’t give us enough penetration into the overall food service marketplace — local and abroad.”