Increasing the value of the commissary: DeCA director pushes agency to be more efficient, effective in delivering a better benefit

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FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. - One year into his tenure as director and CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), John Hall is overseeing a massive effort to improve how the agency delivers the benefit.

Part of that improvement includes promoting the value of the commissary benefit and convincing more eligible patrons to use it, Hall said.

"We all need to do a better job of communicating the value of the commissaries' 25 percent patron savings, where a family of four can save up to $4,000 a year if they routinely use their benefit," he said. "I always say we deliver the highest possible quality of all our products at the lowest possible price."

Out of 3.5 million eligible households living within 20 miles of a commissary, some 1.7 million routinely shop. "We have to elevate the pace and get more eligible patrons to use their benefit," Hall said. "We have a number of initiatives to drive that number up, and it's been rising."

DeCA's efforts to improve benefit awareness include a concerted effort led by its marketing directorate and the senior enlisted advisor to the DeCA director, Navy Command Master Chief Mario Rivers, to engage installation leaders and potential shoppers at military and veteran support events.

"Through our outreach program, we want to provide education on savings, convenience, and support, empowering service members, veterans, and their families to make informed grocery shopping decisions," Rivers said.

DeCA's engagement strategy is already bearing fruit. For example, commissary transactions are up nearly 7 percent and sales up almost 12 percent for active-duty enlisted service members in grades E1-E3. For officers (O1-O3), transactions are up almost 14 percent and sales nearly 17 percent.

Those numbers are encouraging, but there's still a patron demographic DeCA has to pursue more effectively, and that's disabled veterans, Hall said.

"A few years ago, Congress passed a law that enables disabled veterans of any disability rating to shop in our commissaries," he said. "As I travel around, I find that not many disabled veterans understand they have that privilege. So, we are working with some of our veterans and military support organizations to help us communicate better to a population that has earned this benefit."

As Hall rolls out the welcome mat for more eligible patrons, he is also overseeing DeCA's most aggressive campaign to raise revenue since the agency was created in 1991.

Within three months of being selected as DeCA's director and CEO in June 2023, Hall announced a five-year plan to achieve $8 billion in annual sales by fiscal year 2028, a significant increase from the $4.6 billion the agency achieved in fiscal 2023.

"The purpose of reaching $8 billion is to better serve our customers by lowering our operating costs and driving patron savings up," Hall said.

In addition to attracting more eligible patrons, DeCA's pathway toward reaching this sales goal includes its execution of the following initiatives:

• Increase online sales. DeCAis working to expand access to Commissary CLICK2GO, adding new shopping slots and marketing the service to new customers.

• Increase product in-stock rates. The agency is looking to improve its supply chain process to ensure product is on the shelves when patrons shop. Since fiscal 2023, the product in-stock rate has risen from 93.2 percent to 96.9 percent. "Our goal is 98 percent, so we're not quite there yet, but we have made a lot of improvement, and it's all about constantly improving our supply chain," Hall said.

• Increase access. To be even more proactive - making commissary products available to patrons when and where they need them - DeCA has expanded shopping hours and days. The agency is preparing to roll out doorstep delivery and supporting the Army Culinary Outpost Program, where local dining facilities order products from the Commissary CLICK2GO platform to support multiple on-base outposts that contain product kiosks. DeCA is also pushing bulk deliveries to National Guard and Reserve units.

• Added items/services to sales floor. The agency is increasing its emphasis on improving the quality of produce and adding prepared foods and more seafood departments.

• Working with industry. DeCA is a government agency operating with commercial industry and works closely with its suppliers to deliver patron savings. "We continue having constant conversations with industry about how they can help us deliver a better benefit," Hall said. "The savings result from the work we do in tandem."

Increasing patron sales will also generate more surcharge dollars for the capital investment

DeCA needs to help fund its maintenance and renovation of existing infrastructure, as well as the construction of new stores.

"We went through 10 years of declining sales from 2012 to 2021," Hall said. "The years of declining sales greatly limited our ability to make structural repairs on facilities or replace coolers, chillers and freezers that go down frequently because they're old."

Beyond addressing aging infrastructure, Hall said more revenue will also reinforce DeCA's ability to deliver the benefit in places commercial retailers don't exist.

"A lot of commercial retail stores would not operate in many of the remote locations our troops are based because, from a business standpoint, they would lose money," Hall said. "That's why it's really important for us to generate the dollars we need to deliver the same commissary benefit to all eligible patrons - no matter where they are located."

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About DeCA:The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees, disabled veterans and other authorized patrons and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which supports the costs of building, modernizing and sustaining commissary facilities. A core military family support element and valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America's military services and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.