Ian Morley, sales director, Procter & Gamble Northern Europe

Ian Morley, sales director, Procter & Gamble Northern Europe

Procter & Gamble topped the poll in two separate categories - Household and Health and Beauty - in the first round to find the branded supplier of the year.

Buyers were full of praise for this “excellent collaborator” that also displayed “great marketing and in-store support to drive customer interaction”. Another buyer said it was filled with “good, proactive people that work together with us on our goals”.

In the second round of scoring all the category winners are pitched against each other. A select group of commercial directors from leading supermarkets, wholesalers and symbol groups judge them on a range of criteria including category management skills, consumer insight, production quality and technical knowhow. Procter & Gamble shone through to take this coveted Grocer Gold award.

“It’s P&G for me, for its collaborative business-to-business approach to work, its drive to innovate and differentiate, and its delivery of significant category growth,” said one commercial director, from a major multiple.

Another said P&G was “committed to bringing in-store fixtures to life and offering a compelling proposition for customers to pick up the product.”

A third pointed to the vast level of granular insight into customer buying behaviours built up over time, and how effectively that was communicated to them.

“P&G is an all-rounder,” he said. “It understands the importance of collaborating with a retailer, every bit as much as it understands what consumers are looking for from a product in 2017. They are the outstanding choice for me.”