SUPERVALU Acosta Cares Team

Five years ago, the Acosta SUPERVALU team noticed an opportunity to drive sales during very specific weeks of traditionally low retailer activity and volume. They introduced an idea to generate sales by creating two Acosta-exclusive SUPERVALU Corporate Merchandising events for the months of April and June to benefit charities. The sales events have generated over $1.3 million in sales and donations.

For the first five years, charitable donations were mainly given to Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), an organization Acosta has supported for many years that combats nervous system diseases. The MDA sales event grew from $3.4 million in sales in 2014 to projected totals of $13 million in sales in 2019, with the hopes of a $500,000 donation to MDA. The program was so successful that the team developed a Heart for the Brave event in 2018 to benefit veterans, which started out with $5.3 million in sales and is expected to grow this year.

“Congratulations on receiving the Silver honor in the Chairman’s Award!” said Anya Moran, Developmental Specialist, MDA. “While I don’t know what you all were up against – I do know how hard each of you worked throughout this year to make Aisles of Smiles a record breaker. Your commitment to the success of this program, to MDA families, and to delivering an amazing experience at summer camp year after year is inspiring.”

Acosta associates have also volunteered their time at the MDA summer camp where they provide lunch and a dunk tank for the kids. The team has continued to work selflessly with SUPERVALU and our clients to provide dollars that fund research to make the quality of life better for many.

Overall, these national sales events allow for a true “win-win” for retailers who get a large incremental activity and a charitable donation in their name. Acosta clients also receive enhanced performance at a reduced cost. The charitable donation component has helped build great relationships between SUPERVALU, independent retailers and Acosta. Today, we continue to work together under Acosta Cares to maximize our donations each year for these important organizations.

Over the last five years, the SUPERVALU family of retailers and Acosta’s portfolio of CPG’s generated $47 million in sales and over $1 million in donations to MDA through Aisles of Smiles.