How can I suggest an item I would like to see added to my commissary's product assortment?
Commissary product assortments are determined by our Sales Directorate, which manages contracts with manufacturers at DeCA's headquarters. You can submit requests directly to the Sales Directorate by filling out a "Your Action Line" customer comment card in stores, or you can use our online Customer Comment Form
Another option is to bring your suggestion to the attention of store management, who will then work with the Sales Directorate to research and respond to your request. You may request to speak to a manager during a commissary visit, or contact commissary management by phone or e-mail at your convenience. You can find contact information for any commissary by using the list of locations and viewing the "Store Information" section of your commissary's individual page.
When requesting a product, please provide the name and the Universal Product Code (UPC) of the item, as this will expedite the research process and help our Sales Directorate respond to your request. The UPC can be found below the bar code imprinted on a product's label or package, and helps our Sales Directorate identify the exact product you are requesting.
Please note that new items must first be added to DeCA's Catalog Master File (CMF) before they can be picked up in overseas commissaries. Additionally, overseas packing, shipping and shelf life requirements sometimes make it impossible for us to offer some products overseas. DeCA welcomes feedback from its customers, and we give all product requests due consideration.
How do commissaries make decisions about what items to stock?
One of the greatest challenges for our category managers and buyers is to decide which items to stock regularly on commissary shelves. There are tens of thousands of items available in the marketplace, but limited shelf space available to display these items in our stores.
DeCA's Sales Directorate periodically conducts category reviews in order to reassess commissary product assortments. Brand, quality, sales performance, price, variety and shelf space available are among the many factors reviewed in order to build the best possible product assortments for our customers. Commissaries are coded based on the linear feet of shelving available in each store (K1A being the smallest and K5 being the largest), and optimal product assortments are designed to meet the needs of customers at each size store.
Why was an item deleted from the commissary's stock assortment when it seems to sell well at my store?
Some items may sell well in select communities, but have little demand nationally. In order to provide all of our customers the best possible product assortment at the best possible prices, DeCA's Sales Directorate must analyze overall sales data both within the commissary system and in retail stores to make stocking decisions.
Also, even if a product appears to be in high demand at your commissary, this may not be the case. If a product's supply is low or frequently missing from the shelves, it may be due to distribution issues rather than sales. When this happens, if the distribution issues cannot be resolved, DeCA's Sales Directorate has a responsibility to our customers to delete the item so we can use that shelf space to make a replacement product available to our customers.
