Asda and Morrisons have fallen down the league table in the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s GSCOP compliance rankings, published today.
The falls in perceived adherence to the code of the two retailers, who have both been conducting major turnaround programmes, comes amid an overall rise in the number of suppliers reporting a code issue over the past 12 months.
Adjudicator Mark White said he was “concerned” at the increase in alleged code issues, and would be taking action to ensure retailers responded.
Today’s table was topped for the second year in a row by Waitrose, which was deemed to have “consistently” or “mostly” followed the code by 98% of its suppliers.
Amazon, which is currently under investigation by the Adjudicator for delays in payments to its suppliers, remains rooted at the bottom of the 14 retailers, albeit with a slightly improved performance.
However, both Morrisons and Asda slid several places.
Morrisons, which came second from bottom, was deemed by more than one in 10 of its suppliers to be rarely or never complying with the code. Asda fell three places to eighth in the table with a score of 91%.
White said while perceptions of some retailers’ code compliance had declined in the YouGov survey, the average across the 14 retailers remained high, at 92%, with compliance scores ranging from 98% to 69%.
But he said: “I am concerned that despite overall code compliance remaining high, there has been a small increase in suppliers experiencing issues. The findings are a critical reminder that the retailers must focus on ensuring code compliance. I am determined that they do.
“I will ensure that each retailer is investigating and taking action to resolve the issues that their suppliers report. I want to thank every supplier who responded to the survey. Your input will help me to drive improvements over the year ahead.”
The survey found the most common issues highlighted by the 2,600-plus responses included issues with retailer processes for promptly resolving invoice discrepancies (raised by 20% of suppliers); suppliers incurring significant costs because of inaccurate forecasting (18%); delisting without reasonable notice (15%); and delays in payment (14%).
GSCOP negotiation expert Ged Futter said the results of the survey carried warning signs about the impact of continued economic turbulence on supplier relations.
“The table shows that suppliers feel they are facing more issues this year across a number of retailers. Even Tesco, which has gone up one place in the table to third, has done so not because they’ve done better but because others have got even worse.
“M&S is another retailer whose score has dropped by 2.8% and there are some big drops in that regard.
“The overriding factor is things are getting more challenging, the stress factors in the supply chain are increasing.
“Asda and Morrisons are clearly among those cropping up for the wrong reasons and it’s clear to see that it’s linked with the pressures they are under.
“They are taking out resources, making redundancies and and taking out seniority and that is bound to have an impact on relationship with suppliers.”
An Asda spokesman said: ”We value the open and honest relationship we have with suppliers and welcome the feedback they provided via the GCA survey.
”We know from speaking to them that the transition to new systems last year as part of Project Future was disruptive and this is reflected in the GSCOP survey scores. The systems switchover is now complete and we are already seeing tangible improvements in key areas like payment processes and forecast accuracy.
”Our relationship with suppliers is underpinned by a clear Supplier Charter, launched by our chief commercial officer Darren Blackhurst last October. This is based on the principles of trust, transparency and respect that guide how we work together every day. It provides a strong framework for addressing feedback from the survey and continuing to improve supplier experience for the long term.”
A Morrisons spokesman said: ”We value working with the Groceries Code Adjudicator and the annual supplier survey results are important to us.
”We are disappointed that our overall score has reduced this year and we will continue to listen and respond to our suppliers so that we can improve on this in the year ahead.”
The results come after the government announced earlier this month it would be be moving the GCA to sit within Defra, amid speculation the role of the Adjudicator could be expanded to cover farmers.
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