Earlier this spring, Cargill began piloting with 12 of its global edible oils customers a suite of digital tools that will streamline business practices, ease some of the stress and complication of ordering and provide access to product information in minutes at any time of day or night, Gonzalo Petschen, the North American leader of Cargill’s edible oils business, told FoodNavigator-USA.
“During our launch with a pilot group of edible oil customers, they will be able to place and manage orders online, review invoices, review food safety information and look at product specification information, and it will all be personalized to them and the business that they do with us over time,” he said.
“We are going to continuously be adding features – things like getting market intelligence, getting real time order tracking … where you are able to track your shipments with an app on a phone. You will be able to constantly get updates” in a way that allows companies to make faster decisions to gain a competitive edge, Petschen said.
He explained this will give Cargill’s customers speed and flexibility compared to the current system which requires them to call a customer service rep to answer questions.
However, for those who prefer to talk to people, rather than navigate technology, Petschen assures that “our customer service support resources, our sales resources – all of those remain in place. So, [mycargill.com] is complementary to their experience with us. So, they can absolutely reach out to those same folks if they want to deal directly with them.”
While the “digital front door” is currently focused on a small set of edible oil consumers, Petschen said the plan is to add more edible oil customers in the coming year and eventually make the platform available to other ingredient customers in other regions.
