Grupo Merza, a privately owned Mexican retail and wholesale company with more than seven decades of history, serves customers through over 235 self-service stores and an extensive wholesale network including over 30 distribution centers.
Before RELEX, Merza struggled with limited visibility and inefficiencies stemming from their legacy forecasting and replenishment system. Despite multiple attempts to improve it, the solution failed to deliver the accuracy and agility Merza required. Planners experienced ongoing challenges with coverage, promotional planning, and maintaining consistent product availability, which at times impacted sales and customer satisfaction.
To sustain growth and meet evolving market expectations, Merza needed an advanced, AI-powered planning solution capable of improving forecast accuracy, reducing spoilage, and freeing planners from manual, time-consuming processes.
After evaluating multiple vendors in early 2022, Merza selected RELEX Solutions in February 2023 for its AI-driven forecasting, user-friendly interface, and reputation in grocery retail. RELEX’s experience supporting similar grocery retailers, along with strong collaboration from implementation partner DemandTex, gave Merza confidence that this solution would meet their operational needs.
Delivering Results Through a Phased Rollout
The RELEX project began in January 2024 with a short pilot phase from August to October. Full rollout across stores, distribution centers, and wholesale operations started in November and finished by mid-2025.
From the start, Merza set clear goals for the project: to improve sales and product availability, reduce transportation and inventory costs, cut planning time for buyers and planners, and minimize spoilage.
The implementation focused on achieving these outcomes by introducing advanced AI-driven forecasting and replenishment capabilities from RELEX. This approach helped align supply and demand across the business, automate routine planning, and build a consistent, data-driven planning process that supports long-term growth.
Availability and Accuracy Drive Growth
Forecasting and replenishment powered by AI and machine learning gave Merza deeper insight into demand patterns, helping the company anticipate customer needs and make smarter, faster planning decisions that drove these improvements.
One year after go-live, Merza reported significant gains in availability and planning performance. The company saw a 2% combined availability increase across stores and distribution centers, reflecting more balanced inventory and fewer stock shortages. The business also achieved over 90% forecast accuracy across both retail and wholesale operations.
These improvements directly reflected the goals Merza had set at the start of the project. Improved forecasts and demand visibility, especially for promotions, ensured products were available when and where customers needed them, while replenishment automation efficiently balanced inventory between stores and distribution centers.
Together, these advances drove higher sales, reduced planning time, and lowered transportation and inventory costs, creating a strong foundation for continued efficiency gains. Planners and buyers now dedicate less time to manual data handling and more to strategic tasks that create business value.
“RELEX has been an excellent strategic partner in optimizing our processes and enabling us to deliver the best products to our customers on time,” said Benjamín Blanco, Supply Chain Director, Grupo Merza.
Building on these results, Merza is expanding its use of RELEX into purchase optimization to further reduce costs by optimizing order volumes and supplier choices. The company is also developing new dashboards and planning tools to extend the system’s benefits across its wholesale business, supporting ongoing efficiency and growth.
“RELEX has truly changed how we operate as a business,” said Benjamín Blanco, Supply Chain Director at Grupo Merza. “We’ve improved availability, made smarter use of our inventory, and given our planners tools that help them make faster, more confident decisions. The results speak for themselves. RELEX has delivered real, measurable value for our business.”