As announced in December, SAS Retail Services landed a contract in late 2015 to become the dedicated retail services provider at Harris Teeter, a Southeastern grocery chain. In only 12 short weeks, from the announcement date to the program launch, SAS became the Southeastern grocery chain’s single source provider for retail services—including the execution of all new items, category resets, new store, remodels and planogram development.
“I always like new challenges,” says Mario Dominguez, a 12-year associate of SAS Retail Services and Program Manager for the Harris Teeter account.
As one of the largest SAS accounts, Dominguez and his team were tasked with bringing on 400 new employees to staff the new program in 235 stores across 7 different states, including Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. Harris Teeter was also very interested in understanding and implementing the customized technology that could be provided by the SAS teams.
Thanks to their commitment and in-depth experience, Dominguez and his team were able to deliver on all points. “Our success is because of the team,” says Dominguez. “They worked through the holidays and weekends to prepare, and I definitely want to give a shout-out to them.”
When it came to providing the retailer with the technology and data it was looking for, Dominguez was able to employ SAS’ Retail Logic platform. As with all dedicated programs, SAS equipped their Harris Teeter merchandising team members with wireless tablets to record the details of all merchandising activities. “Then we worked with Harris Teeter to understand exactly what they were looking for and what they wanted to know, and we customized the reports to fit their needs, using the data entered into the Retail Logic system via the wireless tablets,” explains Dominguez.
Now at the mid-year point, the partnership with Harris Teeter is going strong. What’s more, according to Dominguez, it’s been beneficial for all parties involved—including himself. Having just moved from the year before for an SAS program based in Kansas, Dominguez packed his bags once again to head the Harris Teeter program from North Carolina. This came after previous moves from California to Chicago, then Chicago to Kansas. And though the latest relocation was initially a tough call, Dominguez knows it was the right decision.
“When I started out with SAS back in 2004, it was a part-time job to help me get through school,” he says. “It never crossed my mind that this would be my career. But every minute and every day I do this job, it gets better. At the end of the day, I really feel like I accomplished something.”
Dominguez credits a significant part of his success as a program manager to his experience working his way up through the SAS ranks. “I started out as a merchandiser, so I’m able to understand our people in the field. They’re the ones who go out and make it happen for us. To be a great leader at SAS, you need to know where your team is coming from.”
To learn more about SAS Retail Services in-store execution and merchandising capabilities, contact Michael Bellman – President SAS Retail Services – at mbellman@sasretailservices.com.