Navigating Growth Complexity in Italian Retail 

CIA CONAD, short for Commercianti Indipendenti Associati Conad, is one of the most prominent cooperatives within the Conad Group, Italy’s largest network of independent retail entrepreneurs. Founded to empower local retailers through shared logistics and centralized operations, CIA CONAD plays a pivotal role in ensuring product availability, efficiency, and competitiveness across its member stores. Operating primarily in northeastern Italy, the cooperative supports hundreds of stores through its extensive distribution network, modern supply chain infrastructure, and commitment to innovation, balancing the autonomy of local entrepreneurs with the scale and strength of a unified retail organization. 

CIA CONAD faced growing pressure to scale efficiently. Surging demand and expanding operations pushed its existing manual processes to the limit. The number of SKUs jumped from 7,500 to 8,000, with projections reaching 9,000 products. This expansion coincided with an increasing number of suppliers, especially in high-rotation and beverage categories, creating complexity in its central warehouse operations. 

Planned network expansions and new store openings threatened to put additional strain on storage and logistics capacity. CIA CONAD needed to better manage speculative purchases, pricing buffers and inbound loads, for its own network and for suppliers with mixed merchandise. To meet these challenges, the company needed a solution that could automate, standardize, and optimize replenishment at scale. deliver automation, standardization, and optimization across its replenishment and inventory processes. 

Implementing Intelligent Automation 

In February 2023, CIA CONAD sought an advanced replenishment solution that offered automation, AI, and flexibility to support future growth. The company chose RELEX for its ability to generate automated replenishment proposals, manage promotional orders, and dynamically calculate safety stocks while maintaining flexibility and scalability essential for its growing operations. 

The full implementation was completed in February 2024. CIA CONAD implemented RELEX forecasting and replenishment capabilities across its DCs for general goods, frozen and semi-fresh categories. They also rolled out investment buys to improve margins. 

Critical to the success of this project was the company’s internal ownership and project management. Identifying and empowering a super user early on accelerated training and adoption across all relevant functions, ensuring fast and effective internal adoption. Their proactive approach and strong internal coordination accelerated onboarding and reduced implementation friction. 

Delivering Measurable Impact 

The RELEX platform transformed CIA CONAD’s replenishment operations, delivering immediate improvements across key performance indicators. The cooperative achieved a 6% improvement in sales from central warehouses to store members, while simultaneously reducing inventory by 3%, demonstrating the solution’s ability to optimize both service levels and working capital efficiency. Most notably, inventory turnover increased by 13%, enabling CIA CONAD to maintain growth trajectories while optimizing stock levels and initiating strategic investment buying activities. 

Beyond the quantified improvements, CIA CONAD gained improved visibility and data-driven decision-making capabilities. The solution provided comprehensive monitoring of supplier performance and structured reporting, enabling more informed strategic decisions.  

Positioning for Future Growth 

With RELEX, CIA CONAD is now equipped to scale without proportional increases in resource requirements. The solution’s scalability supports the company’s projection of growth, accommodating new warehouse additions and store openings, and adapting to evolving supplier dynamics and changing market conditions. 

The successful transformation demonstrates how intelligent automation can enable retail cooperatives to maintain competitive advantages while scaling operations efficiently. CIA CONAD now operates with full control and visibility over its central warehouse replenishment process, to navigate future challenges while strengthening its position within the broader Conad ecosystem.