US Foods Building B2B Food Service Customers: A Bridge to the Digital World

Case Code: MKTG443 Case Length: 16 Pages Period: 2020-2021 Pub Date: 2022 Teaching Note: Available

Price: Rs.400 Organization : US Foods, Inc. Industry :Foodservice Countries : United States Themes: B2B Marketing, Technology Strategy, Competitive Strategy, New Product Development

Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts

Abstract

The case “US Foods Building B2B Food Service Customers: A Bridge to the Digital World” discusses the way the second-largest broad line food distributor in the US, US Foods, Inc. sought to differentiate itself by providing customers with innovative food offerings and a broad suite of e-commerce, technology, and business solutions. The case provides a brief history of the 150-year-old company and an overview of its business operations. It deliberates on how USF’s customer-centricity enabled it to come up with novel food offerings that helped its customers stay ahead of the competition.

USF was the leader when it came to providing technology to foodservice distributors. The case takes an in-depth look into how the company’s technology offerings reduced the operating headaches of its customers and improved their bottom lines. The case also delves into the details of how USF launched certain innovative technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic that enabled it to make a business recovery, apart from leveraging emerging opportunities in the US food distribution industry. Despite being at the forefront of tech offerings in the B2B food distribution space, USF faced tough competition. Can the company become the market leader one day on the back of its tech offerings?

Issues

The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

• Understand the competitive landscape in the B2B food distribution business.
• Devise the most suitable market challenger strategy.
• Analyze the role played by customer-centricity in market success.
• Scrutinize the new product development strategy of a company.
• Examine the use of technology offerings as a key point of market differentiation.
• Identify the ways to leverage emerging market opportunities.

Contents

Introduction
The History of USF
USF’s Operations
Winning Customers through Novel Product Offerings
Reducing Operating Headaches - Innovative Technology Offerings
Taking Advantage of Emerging Opportunities
The Road Ahead
Exhibits

Keywords

New Product Development; Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Buying Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Market Challenger Strategies; Competitor Analysis; Customer-Centricity; Porter's Generic Strategies; Differentiation; Competitive Advantage; Emerging Opportunities; E-Commerce; Business Analytics; and B2B marketing

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