>>Don’t strangle innovation with bureaucracy
Those who believe the process of getting a new product listed with a big grocery retailer has become far too complicated had better turn to page 39 where we unveil new research that attempts to quantify exactly how many decison-makers are now involved in what we have dubbed The Buying Game.
A couple of figures jump out from our research: 14% of those we quizzed at head office felt that 10 or more decision-makers were involved in the buying process. Just as fascinating is the view from retail’s front line. When we asked store managers for their thoughts on this issue, 40% said the buying process involved 10 or more people at head office.
I sense-checked our figures with senior buyers across the trade and they - ruefully, in some cases - agreed that if it was an own label product development then plenty of folk were allowed to put in their pennyworth. And even on branded lines, the days when buyers alone were empowered to make instant decisions have long gone. More people are now involved here too.
You can argue that this is all somewhat inevitable given the increasing complexity of the businesses run by the multiples nowadays.
This question, of course, is whether this really matters? Well, I would argue that it does if the buying processes now in place are slowing down decision-making and the speed at which retailers are able to get new products into their shops.
That’s the issue senior buyers are, quite rightly, most concerned about. As one told me this week, with tongue lodged firmly in cheek (I think): “If you are not careful the products are on TV before they are on your shelves.”
When we first attempted to lift the lid on The Buying Game way back April, our writers found that it could take a matter of weeks for a product from a big brand supplier to get into stores or as long as six months for something new from a smaller, unknown own label producer to make it onto shelves.
As I said in this column last week, innovation is the lifeblood of the food and drink industry. And in an increasingly tough, deflationary market, surely it is the retailers who can get new products in front of consumers quicker than the opposition who will forge another, truly invaluable, competitive advantage.
slow going is regrettable
Those who believe the process of getting a new product listed with a big grocery retailer has become far too complicated had better turn to page 39 where we unveil new research that attempts to quantify exactly how many decison-makers are now involved in what we have dubbed The Buying Game.
A couple of figures jump out from our research: 14% of those we quizzed at head office felt that 10 or more decision-makers were involved in the buying process. Just as fascinating is the view from retail’s front line. When we asked store managers for their thoughts on this issue, 40% said the buying process involved 10 or more people at head office.
I sense-checked our figures with senior buyers across the trade and they - ruefully, in some cases - agreed that if it was an own label product development then plenty of folk were allowed to put in their pennyworth. And even on branded lines, the days when buyers alone were empowered to make instant decisions have long gone. More people are now involved here too.
You can argue that this is all somewhat inevitable given the increasing complexity of the businesses run by the multiples nowadays.
This question, of course, is whether this really matters? Well, I would argue that it does if the buying processes now in place are slowing down decision-making and the speed at which retailers are able to get new products into their shops.
That’s the issue senior buyers are, quite rightly, most concerned about. As one told me this week, with tongue lodged firmly in cheek (I think): “If you are not careful the products are on TV before they are on your shelves.”
When we first attempted to lift the lid on The Buying Game way back April, our writers found that it could take a matter of weeks for a product from a big brand supplier to get into stores or as long as six months for something new from a smaller, unknown own label producer to make it onto shelves.
As I said in this column last week, innovation is the lifeblood of the food and drink industry. And in an increasingly tough, deflationary market, surely it is the retailers who can get new products in front of consumers quicker than the opposition who will forge another, truly invaluable, competitive advantage.
slow going is regrettable
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