"Winning in January" Industry Workshop - 31 March 2009
Background
The issue of poor product availability in the month of January was raised as a whole of industry issue. Historically a decline in service levels to stores in January has resulted in lost sales, stock outs on shelf, and a less than satisfactory offering to the consumer.
The ECRA Board agreed to raise the profile of this issue at an industry wide workshop, focussing on the Australian market in the first instance.
The Event
The workshop was hosted by ECRA on Tuesday 31 March 2009. It provided a unique opportunity to bring together retailers and their trading partners to examine the issue.
Presentations by Metcash, Coles, Woolworths and Sanitarium set the scene for an afternoon of breakout group discussion. The event provided an excellent opportunity to challenge industry participants on previous norms.
The outcome of these discussions formed the basis for the latest ECRA report How to Win in January - Improving service levels. The report provides details of the key outcomes from the workshop and provides insights into improving availability throughout the supply chain during the month of January.
The report is available on the ECRA website. It identifies seven key focus areas and provides content and suggestions against each. These key focus areas are:
- Plan, plan, plan and plan again
- Focus on one number
- Daily responsiveness
- Understand your trading partner
- Operational flexibility
- Communication plan
- Contingency planning
For further information on presentations by Woolworths Ltd, Coles Group, Metcash Trading and Sanitarium Health Foods, please contact Samantha Blake on 02 6273 1466 or samantha.blake@afgc.org.au.