They need to be superheroes and some are, according to The Grocer’s 2004 own label supplier survey. Helen Gregory reports
It could never be said that own label suppliers have an easy life. Relentlessly squeezed on price, they face the constant threat of being ousted by even cheaper suppliers in the annual gauntlet of internet auctions. Yet as soon as they do pull out all the stops to produce the low cost, high quality products, they are accused of commoditisation. They can’t win.
Well that’s what the suppliers themselves might be forgiven for thinking. But, they would be wrong.
As this year’s own label supplier survey shows, buyers are genuinely appreciative of the lengths their own label suppliers are prepared to go to deliver the best.
The Grocer has asked buyers from the top multiples, symbol groups and wholesalers to vote for the three suppliers they each judged to have given the best performance over the past year. Points were awarded for first, second and third places on the basis of account management skills, reliability of deliveries, consistency of product quality; value for money, ability to work with the retailer to develop the own label brand, new product development skills and crisis management skills.
We were overwhelmed by the responses we had from buyers forwarding nominations for own label’s hall of fame this year.
The results reveal that there has been a bit of jostling on the rostrum since last year. Only one category - fresh produce - failed to present an outright winner, but companies that get a mention from buyers include Ibbotsons Potatoes, IVG White and Redbridge Holdings.
In most cases, it is clear that success is not only about responding to the multiples’ demands for a certain product to fill a hole on the shelf.
Like any good relationship, the one between supplier and retailer takes work, but there’s no tried and tested formula. Those that are solely own label suppliers believe their impartiality allows them to focus on retailers’ needs, while suppliers finding success with both own label and brands reckon that this duality gives them an insight into both marketplaces and an added advantage.
If anyone understands the own label market, it’s household and personal care category winner, Robert McBride, which has struck gold in four consecutive years.
Sainsbury product developer Janet Tarasofsky says McBride is very pro-active in own label development. “They often come to us with new ideas or with solutions to existing issues.”
She adds that the company has also met all deadlines,regardless of how tight they are. “They are a pleasure to work with.”
McBride chief executive Mike Handley believes the company has grown more competitive by being cost-efficient as well as innovative. “In a deflationary market, we must do our best - for less,” he says.
Household and personal care silver medal winner LPC is dedicated to supplying own label products to the leading supermarkets and high street chains. Ray Seagrave, marketing manager, says: “We do not have a brand to support and can, therefore, gear all our efforts towards meeting and exceeding our customers’ specific requirement. We can be far more flexible than some of our rivals who need to look after the interests of their brands.”
Joint winner in the confectionery category, Monkhill Confectionery, is a division of Cadbury Trebor Bassett and has an interest in both camps. Sales and marketing director Chris Jenkins believes that its unbiased view on category development helped it strike gold. “We will always advise retailers of the best lines for them, not for us.”
Alcoholic drinks gold medal winner Glenmorangie was already a specialist in the category when it started producing own label liquor. Sales director Jim Cook believes it understands the category and its characteristics and can recommend what the range should look like and get involved in merchandising, label and bottle design. “We recognise consumers’ needs and so don’t treat own label any differently,” he says
This effort has made them Sainsbury’s category champion for own label spirits. Alan Webb, Sainsbury general manager for beers, wines and spirits, says he admires Glenmorangie’s excellent logistics, quality control, and competitive pricing. “The particular issue in Scotch whisky is negative growth and Glenmorangie has been innovative in new product development in order to address this,” he says. However, Russell Smith, Asda’s trainee wine buyer, was impressed by PLB, which took the bronze medal in the alcoholic drinks category. He says the supplier is quick to respond, provides quality information and tries to pre-empt issues.
PLB Wines’ joint md John Smith, says: “We’ve tried to find gaps in the market and give retailers what they want rather than just offering them products and hoping they’ll want them.”
A few years ago, suppliers might have offered the same service to all the chains - not any more. Today, they must ensure that they understand exactly what each retailer wants and build individual relationships.
Gerber took gold for a second year in non-alcoholic drinks and sales director Sarah Gildersleeve says: “We have to adapt to each retailer and have different teams for each of them. It’s about understanding what they need and delivering solutions.”
Moy Park, joint gold medal winner in the meat category, believes success is about getting close to the customer. National sales director George McClean suggests: “ You need to get on with people and respond to what they need. As the retailers become fewer, we’ll end up with rationalisation on both sides, along with more collaboration.”
Matt Simister, Tesco’s category manager for meat, says: “They understand the need to get the basics right in order to deliver an improved offer for customers and work in partnership with us to deliver the best solutions. They’re interested in our challenges as well as their own.”
Fellow gold winner, Sun Valley, agrees that relationships with retailers can vary, but says: “We’ve tried to identify what the customer needs - not to push our one-size-fits-all into the account.”
Like all the winning manufacturers LPC’s Seagrave is keen to point out that the company is just as much into new ideas as any brand. “The ability to keep up with new products coming to market and to respond to innovations introduced by the brand leader is also vital for any own label supplier,” he says.
The message is echoed by Patrick Wood, managing director of Greencore Group’s ambient category, Hazlewood Grocery, which took silver in ambient grocery while its sandwiches division took gold in the chilled foods and ready meals category. He says: “Innovation is the lifeblood of successful own label supply and our aim is to lead or give direction with new products, packaging or service wherever we can.We tailor products to the individual retailer and ensure the integrity of the product to that customer is maintained.”
Coming up with new ideas is often the result of intensive market and customer research, which own label suppliers are often into as much as the brands. At Silver Spring - soft drinks joint silver medal winner - market forecasting, investing in research, npd, people and training is all high on the agenda while at Green Isle Foods - the joint gold medal winner in frozen - Carol Berry, head of group category development, says: “We always talk about opportunities by arguing on fact, using information such as EPoS score cards. And we always use presentations to buyers as a forum for sharing information.”
Like brands, service and availability are important targets to hit. There is no point having wonderful new products if you can’t supply them on time and in the right quantity. And service and availability have been the strong points at frozen food silver medal winner Garden Isle, which prides itself on quality and service and boasts that a supplier is never out of a product.
Says sales director Colin Claxton: “People might think that relationships are just about price, but there are other things that make a good supplier - you need to show them where the changes will come from. It’s no good having the cheapest products if you can’t get them to stores.” This ethos has obviously struck a chord with David Stokes, senior buying controller at Nisa Freeze, who says he admires the professionalism of Garden Isle. “From the sales team to production to distribution, the service is excellent, “ he says.
If a company is innovative, quick to market and reliable, there is nothing to stop it becoming a key player in managing the category. After all, perhaps even more so than the brands, own label suppliers have a vested interest in seeing growth.
This can entail a lot of detailed work, such as advising retailers on what products and pack sizes they should include, as well as range presentation - which is just what joint gold medal confectionery winner Toms does. Says MD Niels Peterson: “We focus on category management. For example, we recommend putting all the own label together as it gives a much stronger branding and looks better on the fixture.”
In the chilled food/ready meals category, Noon used a project manager for the re-launch of the Indian chilled ready meal category for one customer. This approach won the producer the silver medal and MD John Duffy reckons that a good own label supplier should treat the retailer brands and category as if it were their own. “This means taking the lead in innovation across the whole chain, not just product development.”
In the dairy chiller cabinet, Arla’s work allowed it to take the top spot from Robert Wiseman Dairies this year. Simon Stevens, Arla sales director, believes its approach to joint business planning has impressed retailers. “It’s easy to put together a plan, but we actually deliver the growth.”
The constant search for cheaper products and service along with the downward pressure on price, means retailers have to make sure their brand is particularly competitive, which in turn puts particular pressure on own label suppliers.
Soft drinks gold medal winner Gerber reckons this makes it hard to add value. Sales director Sarah Gildersleeve says: “We’re constantly challenged to make things faster, cheaper and simpler. But we do it by adding value with our core category management competencies.” Garden Isle’s Claxton adds: “Brands have the luxury of advertising campaigns to drive sales and they have more margin. We’ve got to be more on the ball in terms of offering something that’s high quality with a competitive edge.”
The multiples want super efficient supply chains, adds, Kevin Cahill, director at Kepak, which took the bronze medal chilled food/ready meals. “To survive in the category, companies have had to be very efficient at delivering service and product range,” he says. “We’re willing to adapt to any scenario.”
Meanwhile, the meat category gold medal winner Sun Valley believes that having open and frank relationships with customers is vital. Chris Hall, sales and marketing director, says: “It’s difficult being an own label supplier, but no more difficult than trying to push a brand that no one wants anymore.”
The own label arena appears to be getting tougher, with more competition among suppliers and a more consolidated marketplace. However, most winners believe it’s worth the effort and, in an environment where customers have a wallet-full of loyalty cards, own label is becoming a good way for retailers to differentiate their offer.
It could never be said that own label suppliers have an easy life. Relentlessly squeezed on price, they face the constant threat of being ousted by even cheaper suppliers in the annual gauntlet of internet auctions. Yet as soon as they do pull out all the stops to produce the low cost, high quality products, they are accused of commoditisation. They can’t win.
Well that’s what the suppliers themselves might be forgiven for thinking. But, they would be wrong.
As this year’s own label supplier survey shows, buyers are genuinely appreciative of the lengths their own label suppliers are prepared to go to deliver the best.
The Grocer has asked buyers from the top multiples, symbol groups and wholesalers to vote for the three suppliers they each judged to have given the best performance over the past year. Points were awarded for first, second and third places on the basis of account management skills, reliability of deliveries, consistency of product quality; value for money, ability to work with the retailer to develop the own label brand, new product development skills and crisis management skills.
We were overwhelmed by the responses we had from buyers forwarding nominations for own label’s hall of fame this year.
The results reveal that there has been a bit of jostling on the rostrum since last year. Only one category - fresh produce - failed to present an outright winner, but companies that get a mention from buyers include Ibbotsons Potatoes, IVG White and Redbridge Holdings.
In most cases, it is clear that success is not only about responding to the multiples’ demands for a certain product to fill a hole on the shelf.
Like any good relationship, the one between supplier and retailer takes work, but there’s no tried and tested formula. Those that are solely own label suppliers believe their impartiality allows them to focus on retailers’ needs, while suppliers finding success with both own label and brands reckon that this duality gives them an insight into both marketplaces and an added advantage.
If anyone understands the own label market, it’s household and personal care category winner, Robert McBride, which has struck gold in four consecutive years.
Sainsbury product developer Janet Tarasofsky says McBride is very pro-active in own label development. “They often come to us with new ideas or with solutions to existing issues.”
She adds that the company has also met all deadlines,regardless of how tight they are. “They are a pleasure to work with.”
McBride chief executive Mike Handley believes the company has grown more competitive by being cost-efficient as well as innovative. “In a deflationary market, we must do our best - for less,” he says.
Household and personal care silver medal winner LPC is dedicated to supplying own label products to the leading supermarkets and high street chains. Ray Seagrave, marketing manager, says: “We do not have a brand to support and can, therefore, gear all our efforts towards meeting and exceeding our customers’ specific requirement. We can be far more flexible than some of our rivals who need to look after the interests of their brands.”
Joint winner in the confectionery category, Monkhill Confectionery, is a division of Cadbury Trebor Bassett and has an interest in both camps. Sales and marketing director Chris Jenkins believes that its unbiased view on category development helped it strike gold. “We will always advise retailers of the best lines for them, not for us.”
Alcoholic drinks gold medal winner Glenmorangie was already a specialist in the category when it started producing own label liquor. Sales director Jim Cook believes it understands the category and its characteristics and can recommend what the range should look like and get involved in merchandising, label and bottle design. “We recognise consumers’ needs and so don’t treat own label any differently,” he says
This effort has made them Sainsbury’s category champion for own label spirits. Alan Webb, Sainsbury general manager for beers, wines and spirits, says he admires Glenmorangie’s excellent logistics, quality control, and competitive pricing. “The particular issue in Scotch whisky is negative growth and Glenmorangie has been innovative in new product development in order to address this,” he says. However, Russell Smith, Asda’s trainee wine buyer, was impressed by PLB, which took the bronze medal in the alcoholic drinks category. He says the supplier is quick to respond, provides quality information and tries to pre-empt issues.
PLB Wines’ joint md John Smith, says: “We’ve tried to find gaps in the market and give retailers what they want rather than just offering them products and hoping they’ll want them.”
A few years ago, suppliers might have offered the same service to all the chains - not any more. Today, they must ensure that they understand exactly what each retailer wants and build individual relationships.
Gerber took gold for a second year in non-alcoholic drinks and sales director Sarah Gildersleeve says: “We have to adapt to each retailer and have different teams for each of them. It’s about understanding what they need and delivering solutions.”
Moy Park, joint gold medal winner in the meat category, believes success is about getting close to the customer. National sales director George McClean suggests: “ You need to get on with people and respond to what they need. As the retailers become fewer, we’ll end up with rationalisation on both sides, along with more collaboration.”
Matt Simister, Tesco’s category manager for meat, says: “They understand the need to get the basics right in order to deliver an improved offer for customers and work in partnership with us to deliver the best solutions. They’re interested in our challenges as well as their own.”
Fellow gold winner, Sun Valley, agrees that relationships with retailers can vary, but says: “We’ve tried to identify what the customer needs - not to push our one-size-fits-all into the account.”
Like all the winning manufacturers LPC’s Seagrave is keen to point out that the company is just as much into new ideas as any brand. “The ability to keep up with new products coming to market and to respond to innovations introduced by the brand leader is also vital for any own label supplier,” he says.
The message is echoed by Patrick Wood, managing director of Greencore Group’s ambient category, Hazlewood Grocery, which took silver in ambient grocery while its sandwiches division took gold in the chilled foods and ready meals category. He says: “Innovation is the lifeblood of successful own label supply and our aim is to lead or give direction with new products, packaging or service wherever we can.We tailor products to the individual retailer and ensure the integrity of the product to that customer is maintained.”
Coming up with new ideas is often the result of intensive market and customer research, which own label suppliers are often into as much as the brands. At Silver Spring - soft drinks joint silver medal winner - market forecasting, investing in research, npd, people and training is all high on the agenda while at Green Isle Foods - the joint gold medal winner in frozen - Carol Berry, head of group category development, says: “We always talk about opportunities by arguing on fact, using information such as EPoS score cards. And we always use presentations to buyers as a forum for sharing information.”
Like brands, service and availability are important targets to hit. There is no point having wonderful new products if you can’t supply them on time and in the right quantity. And service and availability have been the strong points at frozen food silver medal winner Garden Isle, which prides itself on quality and service and boasts that a supplier is never out of a product.
Says sales director Colin Claxton: “People might think that relationships are just about price, but there are other things that make a good supplier - you need to show them where the changes will come from. It’s no good having the cheapest products if you can’t get them to stores.” This ethos has obviously struck a chord with David Stokes, senior buying controller at Nisa Freeze, who says he admires the professionalism of Garden Isle. “From the sales team to production to distribution, the service is excellent, “ he says.
If a company is innovative, quick to market and reliable, there is nothing to stop it becoming a key player in managing the category. After all, perhaps even more so than the brands, own label suppliers have a vested interest in seeing growth.
This can entail a lot of detailed work, such as advising retailers on what products and pack sizes they should include, as well as range presentation - which is just what joint gold medal confectionery winner Toms does. Says MD Niels Peterson: “We focus on category management. For example, we recommend putting all the own label together as it gives a much stronger branding and looks better on the fixture.”
In the chilled food/ready meals category, Noon used a project manager for the re-launch of the Indian chilled ready meal category for one customer. This approach won the producer the silver medal and MD John Duffy reckons that a good own label supplier should treat the retailer brands and category as if it were their own. “This means taking the lead in innovation across the whole chain, not just product development.”
In the dairy chiller cabinet, Arla’s work allowed it to take the top spot from Robert Wiseman Dairies this year. Simon Stevens, Arla sales director, believes its approach to joint business planning has impressed retailers. “It’s easy to put together a plan, but we actually deliver the growth.”
The constant search for cheaper products and service along with the downward pressure on price, means retailers have to make sure their brand is particularly competitive, which in turn puts particular pressure on own label suppliers.
Soft drinks gold medal winner Gerber reckons this makes it hard to add value. Sales director Sarah Gildersleeve says: “We’re constantly challenged to make things faster, cheaper and simpler. But we do it by adding value with our core category management competencies.” Garden Isle’s Claxton adds: “Brands have the luxury of advertising campaigns to drive sales and they have more margin. We’ve got to be more on the ball in terms of offering something that’s high quality with a competitive edge.”
The multiples want super efficient supply chains, adds, Kevin Cahill, director at Kepak, which took the bronze medal chilled food/ready meals. “To survive in the category, companies have had to be very efficient at delivering service and product range,” he says. “We’re willing to adapt to any scenario.”
Meanwhile, the meat category gold medal winner Sun Valley believes that having open and frank relationships with customers is vital. Chris Hall, sales and marketing director, says: “It’s difficult being an own label supplier, but no more difficult than trying to push a brand that no one wants anymore.”
The own label arena appears to be getting tougher, with more competition among suppliers and a more consolidated marketplace. However, most winners believe it’s worth the effort and, in an environment where customers have a wallet-full of loyalty cards, own label is becoming a good way for retailers to differentiate their offer.
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