from Martin Kingdon, director general, POPAI UK and Ireland

Co-sourcing offers greater stability

from Gary Armstrong-Smith, director, Plan-Net

Sir; James Bedford in his Saturday Essay (June 5, p30) speaks of the simplistic representation of the food industry regarding diet and lifestyle issues. He also quotes POPAI’s figure that 75.5% of purchase decisions are made at the fixture. 
Given that so many decisions are made in the store and therefore have the potential to be influenced or informed, I have to wonder why no one yet has looked at the store as an educational medium as well as an advertising one. 
One change in retail over the last five years has been its development from a distribution channel to that of communication. With the pressure on brands and retailers
to prove to the shopper that they are responsible, putting funds into educational messages at the fixture must help to defuse current criticism.
A campaign of responsible point of purchase advertising could offer education to shoppers, ensuring that the simplistic representation can be challenged.
Sir; The debate over outsourcing has been widely publicised yet the cost savings rarely materialise and quality of service appears to be secondary.
Most outsourcing contracts purport to focus on delivering service, but the crux is actually based on headcount. By its nature, outsourcing involves a long-term arrangement, so when business demand rises or drops, companies invariably discover flexibility is compromised.
A more flexible option is co-sourcing, in which a company can scale up or down the number of staff as needs change and use the service provider’s permanent employees, so it remains a stable option.
By building in a flexible staffing component, companies can use staff more strategically according to the peaks and troughs of the business. Rather than employing individuals, companies are obtaining a flexible service that responds to changing needs.
With co-sourcing, companies can retain as much or as little control of the team as they wish, enabling better alignment of resource with business demands. However, crucially the co-sourcer is responsible for the recruitment, administration and career progression of staff.
In a changing market, it is essential to act responsively and look beyond the traditional approaches to support staffing. By utilising a flexible staffing component the state of the market becomes a non-issue.