A.F. Blakemore & Son, the UK’s largest SPAR retailer and wholesaler, is deepening its investment with RELEX to unify its retail planning operations.
Building on its use of RELEX for wholesale and distribution centre forecasting and replenishment, A.F. Blakemore will expand this to its retail business and implement RELEX space planning capabilities to “drive seamless, end-to-end planning” across its convenience store network.
It is claimed that the expansion, supported by RELEX partner Supply Chain Company, will help A.F. Blakemore to boost product availability, minimise waste, and streamline operations, delivering a “more efficient and responsive shopping experience”.
The company noted that convenience retailers must balance meeting fast-changing customer demand while minimising shrink and managing constrained shelf space. A.F. Blakemore’s expanded use of RELEX’s unified, AI-driven platform, including weather-aware forecasting, seasonal planning, and automated replenishment, is expected to enable “faster, smarter decisions across the product lifecycle”. The business noted that this will help it adapt to changing conditions and shifts in demand, leading to better promotion planning and more effective clearance strategies.
The RELEX AI-driven unified platform also brings planogram optimisation at both store and cluster levels. This alignment between supply chain and store execution will enable scalable expansion into trade partner sites, with “consistent performance and efficiency” across formats.
“Our collaboration with RELEX has already driven significant value in our distribution and wholesale operations,” said Marc Deakin, Supply Chain Director at A.F. Blakemore. “Extending this success into retail is a natural next step. Unified planning will not only improve availability and efficiency, it will also provide us with a toolkit to expand across our trade partner stores.”
Henk Jan Rijkse, Director and Founder, Supply Chain Company, added: “We are thrilled to partner with A.F. Blakemore and RELEX on this transformative project. By connecting supply chain and store-level planning, we see tremendous opportunities to unlock value. With our expertise in SPAR implementations, we are confident in delivering tangible benefits, quickly together.”
Meanwhile, Jason Berry, Senior Vice President, EMEA at RELEX Solutions, concluded: “A.F. Blakemore is a fantastic example of how a unified planning approach can transform convenience retail. We’re proud to expand our partnership and bring integrated, AI-driven planning to more parts of their business, delivering measurable results every step of the way.”
NAM Implications:
- Successful integration of wholesale and retail planning operations…
- …has to lead to economies….
- …with lessons learned potentially applicable to other convenience retailers.
- One to watch…
