SOLON, Ohio — Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM) is turning the spotlight on nine food, drug and mass retailers with Merchant Team of the Year awards.

ECRM said the awards, its second annual, are being presented to the chains for their excellence in sourcing, merchandising and supplier collaboration. This year’s winners span 10 categories across consumables, health and beauty aids, and general merchandise in the food, drug, mass merchant and value retail channels.

The 2017 ECRM Merchant Team of the Year award winners are Ahold USA (frozens), Albertsons (own brands grocery), CVS Pharmacy (beauty care), Kroger (in two categories: beer/wine and pet care), Meijer (health care), Sam’s Club (home and housewares), Target (school and office supplies), Walgreens (own brand HBA) and Walmart (candy).

“We congratulate the winners of the 2017 Merchant Team of The Year Awards,” Wayne Bennett, senior vice president of retail for ECRM, said in a statement. “In today’s highly competitive retail environment, our retail winners across 10 product categories are focused on strong supplier partnerships routed in co-creation and collaboration to grow sales.”

ECRM said it will feature Q&As with merchandising leaders of the winning retailers in the coming months on its website as well as social media.

Suppliers were sent ballots across 10 categories and asked to vote against a list of retailers selected according to their sales performance in those categories, ECRM said. Suppliers voted for retailers exhibiting excellence in new product launches, product sourcing, supplier relations, collaborative partnerships and joint business planning practices.

ECRM facilitates category-specific buying and selling between consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers via its EPPS events and proprietary software that streamlines interactions between trading partners. The company serves manufacturers and retailers in a range of product categories, including health and beauty care, general merchandise, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and electronics, among others.