How Alcampo reduced food waste and recovered €12M in margin across 400+ stores, ahead of Spain's new law
Smartdetection
Smartdecision
+€12M
margin protected & recovered, in under 2 years
-15%
net shrink, year-on-year
4/5
satisfaction across 389 store respondents
400+
stores deployed in 8 weeks
400+ stores, 3 formats, and an ambition to go beyond existing shrink management
Alcampo is one of Spain's largest food retailers and Auchan Retail's Spanish brand. When Smartway was deployed in 2024, Alcampo operated 401 stores across three formats: 81 hypermarkets, 268 supermarkets, and 52 proximity stores, including 224 former DIA locations acquired in 2023 that needed to be brought up to the same level of performance as the rest of the network.
Alcampo already had internal short-date tooling in place. The business, however, wanted to go further on store action and margin protection. Store teams were spending hours every day on manual checks that still couldn't prevent packaged products from expiring unsold.
The result: shrink eating directly into margins on packaged products, every product that expires unsold on the shelf is margin lost. The business objective was clear: outperform the internal solution and reduce shrink, across every format, every store, every aisle.
Two modules deployed together, full rollout in 8 weeks
In April 2024, Alcampo kicked off the project with two Smartway modules deployed simultaneously. Rather than running a long pilot phase, Alcampo deployed test stores first, then school stores, then rolled out in successive waves, reaching 100% of the Alcampo network by June 2024.
Less than 8 weeks from kickoff to full deployment. No store left behind.
Smartdetection identifies packaged products approaching their sell-by date in real time. Automated alerts replace manual scanning rounds. In-store geolocation guides teams straight to flagged products.
Smartdecision generates personalized markdown labels with the optimal discount to maximize sell-through while protecting gross margin. Right discount, right time, every product, every store.
Two dedicated Smartway CSMs were assigned to the account, both working hand-in-hand with Alcampo's project leads. The operational rhythm was intense: weekly animations to drive store adoption, monthly deep-dive reviews focused on underperforming stores, and in-store visits to build best practices like dedicated recovery zones.
The results: shrink reduced, margin protected, teams freed up
- €12 million in margin protected and recovered, in under 2 years
- -15% net shrink reduction year-on-year since deployment
- 4/5 satisfaction across 389 store respondents
- Labor time freed up, from hours of manual shelf checks to targeted alert processing
- Margin protected, smarter, product-specific markdowns instead of flat discounts
- Full deployment sustained, 100% of Alcampo stores, no rollback
- Outperformed the internal solution, the original business objective, delivered
"We had internal tools for managing products approaching expiry and their labelling. However, these checks were often overlooked, and we lacked analytical tracking of the discounts applied, as well as effective shrink control. After implementing Smartway, we replaced control rounds with real-time alerts and fixed discounts, or the absence of discounts, with dynamic strategies tailored to each product. The impact on our margins and on waste reduction was visible in a very short time."
Cesar Extremera, Performance Director, Alcampo
"Smartdetection finds the products at risk. Smartdecision makes sure they get the right markdown to sell instead of expire. Together, they cover the full cycle, and our teams trust the system because it works from the reality of the shelf, not from a theoretical model."
Monica Fletes, Shift Supervisor, Supermercado, Alcampo
A flagship store in a premium area resisted a key Smartway best practice for over a year. When they finally adopted it, the results were immediate: sales increased, the process became easier for the teams, and even the most high-profile customers embraced it.
A regulatory tailwind: Spain's Ley 1/2025
Since April 2026, the mandatory obligations of Spain's Law 1/2025 on the prevention of food losses and waste are enforceable for all food chain operators. This is the most ambitious regulation of its kind in Europe. Non-compliance carries sanctions.
The targets are aggressive: -50% food waste per capita at retail and household level by 2030, well beyond the EU directive's -30%.
Alcampo's results with Smartway put them ahead of the curve. Where the law demands documented prevention plans and quantified performance, Alcampo already has the data, the processes, and the proven results to demonstrate compliance.
Sources: Ley 1/2025 (BOE, 2 April 2025) - Eurostat 2022
Why this matters
Alcampo didn't buy a transformation roadmap or a monolithic platform. They activated two independent modules, Smartdetection and Smartdecision, deployed them together across the entire network in record time, and measured the results in weeks, not months.
The €12M isn't a projection. It's measured value, margin protected and recovered, delivered in under two years, across three formats, 100% of Alcampo stores, including 224 recently acquired DIA locations.
That's what happens when you start from the reality of the store, not from a theoretical model.
"Smartway is a reliable and comfortable partner, with whom we have already worked and achieved good results. They provide technology and solutions that Alcampo's own systems do not cover. This project is necessary and exciting for Alcampo."
Jose Luis Ares, National Performance Director, Alcampo
We had internal tools for managing products approaching expiry and their labelling. However, these checks were often overlooked, and we lacked analytical tracking of the discounts applied, as well as effective shrink control. After implementing Smartway, we replaced control rounds with real-time alerts and fixed discounts, or the absence of discounts, with dynamic strategies tailored to each product. The impact on our margins and on waste reduction was visible in a very short time.