Elaine Watson
Big Food Group is ramping up its use of online auctions in a bid to drive down procurement costs.
Booker director of trade for fresh and frozen food Clive Cooper said BFG had begun trialing reverse auctions as a buying tool in April with technology partner Trading Partners, and was now considering their use across a raft of product categories.
So far, auctions have been used to procure goods such as coffee, cheese, peas, chicken and frozen chips, for all of BFG's constituent companies said Cooper. "There are lots more opportunities. As long as we can get a clear spec and at least four or five suppliers are able to bid, we can run these on anything. Take chips. This is a big opportunity. We can break down the tender into different slots for different parts of the business."
There are no immediate plans to run auctions on branded lines, although there could be opportunities for putting e-tenders up for cheapest on display French wine, for example, said Cooper.
Marketing director Mark Collier said Booker stocked a range of new products developed for Iceland and Booker but packaged differently to cater for BFG's three channels to market.
"There is a lot of cross-fertilisation between BFG's constituent companies in terms of purchasing, IT, and logistics, that goes on behind the scenes," said Collier
BFG is also looking for greater synergies between Booker and Woodward foodservice, with several Booker lines going into the Woodwards business under the Chef's Larder brand. Conversely, products from Woodward are going into Booker depots.
>> See next week for details about Booker's new depot in Greenford, Middlesex
. "For example, the online ordering system we are introducing to Booker was developed through Iceland."
{{NEWS }}
Big Food Group is ramping up its use of online auctions in a bid to drive down procurement costs.
Booker director of trade for fresh and frozen food Clive Cooper said BFG had begun trialing reverse auctions as a buying tool in April with technology partner Trading Partners, and was now considering their use across a raft of product categories.
So far, auctions have been used to procure goods such as coffee, cheese, peas, chicken and frozen chips, for all of BFG's constituent companies said Cooper. "There are lots more opportunities. As long as we can get a clear spec and at least four or five suppliers are able to bid, we can run these on anything. Take chips. This is a big opportunity. We can break down the tender into different slots for different parts of the business."
There are no immediate plans to run auctions on branded lines, although there could be opportunities for putting e-tenders up for cheapest on display French wine, for example, said Cooper.
Marketing director Mark Collier said Booker stocked a range of new products developed for Iceland and Booker but packaged differently to cater for BFG's three channels to market.
"There is a lot of cross-fertilisation between BFG's constituent companies in terms of purchasing, IT, and logistics, that goes on behind the scenes," said Collier
BFG is also looking for greater synergies between Booker and Woodward foodservice, with several Booker lines going into the Woodwards business under the Chef's Larder brand. Conversely, products from Woodward are going into Booker depots.
>> See next week for details about Booker's new depot in Greenford, Middlesex
. "For example, the online ordering system we are introducing to Booker was developed through Iceland."
{{NEWS }}
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