Wakefern’s AI System Now Runs Across 380 Stores
Under President Mike Stigers, the cooperative has rolled out new systems across marketing and distribution
“Our AI team does not work for IT,” said Mike Stigers, president of Wakefern Food Corp., during a keynote at the National Grocers Association’s annual conference earlier this month. “We’re a selling organization.”
Wakefern is a retailer-owned grocery cooperative based in Keasbey, New Jersey. It supports more than 380 supermarkets across nine East Coast states under banners including ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Fairway Market, Gourmet Garage, Di Bruno Bros. and Morton Williams.
Over the past year, the cooperative has rolled out new AI-enabled systems across marketing, consumer analytics, distribution center buying and loyalty. Each announcement stood on its own. Taken together, they outline a coordinated build-out of Wakefern’s commercial infrastructure across its member stores.
Building a centralized commercial system
In August 2025, Wakefern announced a partnership with NielsenIQ. The cooperative adopted NIQ’s Activate Platform to support consumer insights and assortment optimization. The software uses AI tools to help banners develop data-driven assortment strategies and manage business performance.
“NIQ’s advanced measurement capabilities, combined with our cooperative’s nearly eight decades of supermarket expertise, ensures that our teams, Members, and suppliers have the tools and knowledge we need to make fast decisions,” said Darren Caudill, chief sales officer at Wakefern.
One month later, Wakefern deployed Birdzi’s customer intelligence platform. The system includes Visper, an AI-driven campaign engine designed to automate personalized promotions across banners such as ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace and The Fresh Grocer.
“Working with Birdzi enables our supermarket banners to better respond to shopper needs as grocery retail enters an AI driven era,” Caudill said at the time of the announcement.
In November 2025, Wakefern became one of the first retailers to implement Afresh’s Fresh Buying solution across its produce, meat, seafood, deli and bakery distribution centers. The platform uses AI agents to handle forecasting, vendor selection, truck building and issue resolution inside distribution operations.
“Together with Wakefern, we’re modernizing how fresh moves through the supply chain, making it easier to get the right products to the right stores, at the right time, with less waste,” said Matt Schwartz, CEO of Afresh.
Afresh’s system centralizes distribution center data and automates routine buying decisions. Wakefern described the technology as “innovative and transformative” when it announced the rollout.
In February 2026, Wakefern selected Eagle Eye to replace its legacy point-of-sale-based loyalty system. Eagle Eye’s MACH-approved platform allows Wakefern to manage loyalty across all banners through a single system. The program is expected to go live in mid-2026.
Under the new setup, marketing teams can design and launch promotions across channels. Eagle Eye’s platform includes AI-powered personalization tools that deliver real-time offers and gamified challenges. Public statements from Wakefern and Eagle Eye also referenced supplier-funded engagement, giving brands a structured way to participate in promotions.
“Choosing Eagle Eye was an easy decision,” Caudill said. “They’ll help us deliver a great customer experience while driving incremental sales and creating new opportunities for Wakefern to provide meaningful value to our CPG partners.”
These deployments cover consumer insights, campaign automation, distribution buying and loyalty execution. The AI team overseeing these systems reports to the chief sales officer.
Coordinating AI inside a cooperative model
Wakefern operates as a retailer-owned cooperative. Its member families independently own and operate their supermarkets. The cooperative provides services that include merchandising, marketing, technology and distribution.
Centralizing data and promotion systems across that structure requires common tools. The loyalty platform now sits in one system across banners. Consumer insights run through a shared analytics platform. Distribution centers use a common AI buying tool. Campaign execution runs through a unified engine.
Stigers pointed to AI as a practical tool for grocers during his NGA keynote.
“AI is an enabler and a tool for us to just take our knowledge, our data, our information that’s already out there and help process it,” he said.
He also described AI as a way to free employees from routine work.
“AI just allows you to be more personable with your teammates, to be more personable with the communities you serve, because you have time to do it instead of sitting doing routine rote work,” Stigers said.
Wakefern’s retail sales rose from about $18.6 billion in fiscal 2022 to $20.7 billion in fiscal 2025. The cooperative also expanded its footprint during that period, including the addition of the Morton Williams chain in the New York metro area.
At the NGA conference, Stigers addressed independent grocers who questioned whether AI tools were only accessible to larger retailers.
“Our future is so, so bright,” he said. “This isn’t something that the big guys have that we don’t. This is something we all have.”