from Simon Fry, head of product marketing, RH Amar & Co
Sir; It was with disappointment and exasperation that I heard of Andy Bond’s comments about a lack of product innovation at the recent IGD conference (The Grocer, October 22, p4).
RH Amar & Co has been distributing premium products to the multiples for many years and one of the key reasons we have been successful in our relationship with the multiples is precisely because we are constantly bringing innovative products to the market.
However, all too often the products never get past the buyers because, as I have been told time and time again, “I am targeted on turnover and profit and it is not in my interest to risk taking on such a product”.
I have lost count of the number of innovative products that have bitten the dust because no buyer was prepared to take a risk and list it (and to be honest, if my career depended on achieving these blinkered targets of turnover and profit, I would make exactly the same decision).
You hit the nail on the head when you wrote at the end of your Opinion in last week’s edition that “our problem is that too many retailers don’t create a culture that empowers buyers to take risks and pay a fair price”.
Until senior executives like Bond can create a balance for their buyers between the very important goal of profitability and introducing innovation, then the fixtures will continue to look and be very bland.
Sir; It was with disappointment and exasperation that I heard of Andy Bond’s comments about a lack of product innovation at the recent IGD conference (The Grocer, October 22, p4).
RH Amar & Co has been distributing premium products to the multiples for many years and one of the key reasons we have been successful in our relationship with the multiples is precisely because we are constantly bringing innovative products to the market.
However, all too often the products never get past the buyers because, as I have been told time and time again, “I am targeted on turnover and profit and it is not in my interest to risk taking on such a product”.
I have lost count of the number of innovative products that have bitten the dust because no buyer was prepared to take a risk and list it (and to be honest, if my career depended on achieving these blinkered targets of turnover and profit, I would make exactly the same decision).
You hit the nail on the head when you wrote at the end of your Opinion in last week’s edition that “our problem is that too many retailers don’t create a culture that empowers buyers to take risks and pay a fair price”.
Until senior executives like Bond can create a balance for their buyers between the very important goal of profitability and introducing innovation, then the fixtures will continue to look and be very bland.
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