ECR UK will monitor the availability of 45 seasonal lines from sherry to sprouts at the multiples this Christmas as it cranks up its work on measuring and tackling out of stocks.
Chris Tyas, Nestlé supply chain director and co-chair of ECR UK’s working group on availability, said the group would also start monitoring availability on new products, promotional lines and goods sold in the multiples’ c-store formats.
The working group has so far focused on measuring availability at the multiples’ larger stores, producing best practice case studies and launching a new on-shelf availability award in association
with IGD. However, its remit would broaden to include more stores and more products, he said. “The seasonal survey will begin in the second week of December with the results to be published in the new year.
“We are also going to look at shopper behaviour through a series of interviews to see how shoppers behave when what they want is not available.”
Measuring availability on promotional lines and new products was also crucial in getting a true picture of what was happening in stores, he said.
“Time and time again, the problems occur on promoted lines or new products where you don’t have historical data to help you predict demand. We need to extend our survey to look at this next year.”
A blue book containing more than 20 case studies of how UK manufacturers and retailers had worked together to improve availability would be published this week, he said.
“The case studies look at everything from shelf-ready packaging to collaborative promotional planning and improving bookstock accuracy. However, our research has shown that there is no silver bullet to tackle out of stocks.”
Results of the quarterly ECR UK/IGD availability surveys that look at 200 product lines had demonstrated there was still a lot of work to be done to tackle out of stocks, especially on frozen food, household goods and homewares, he added.
“We were surprised at how bad things were in some categories. It also isn’t good enough that only a handful of products from a list of 200 key lines were in stock at the leading supermarkets 100% of the time.”
Elaine Watson
Chris Tyas, Nestlé supply chain director and co-chair of ECR UK’s working group on availability, said the group would also start monitoring availability on new products, promotional lines and goods sold in the multiples’ c-store formats.
The working group has so far focused on measuring availability at the multiples’ larger stores, producing best practice case studies and launching a new on-shelf availability award in association
with IGD. However, its remit would broaden to include more stores and more products, he said. “The seasonal survey will begin in the second week of December with the results to be published in the new year.
“We are also going to look at shopper behaviour through a series of interviews to see how shoppers behave when what they want is not available.”
Measuring availability on promotional lines and new products was also crucial in getting a true picture of what was happening in stores, he said.
“Time and time again, the problems occur on promoted lines or new products where you don’t have historical data to help you predict demand. We need to extend our survey to look at this next year.”
A blue book containing more than 20 case studies of how UK manufacturers and retailers had worked together to improve availability would be published this week, he said.
“The case studies look at everything from shelf-ready packaging to collaborative promotional planning and improving bookstock accuracy. However, our research has shown that there is no silver bullet to tackle out of stocks.”
Results of the quarterly ECR UK/IGD availability surveys that look at 200 product lines had demonstrated there was still a lot of work to be done to tackle out of stocks, especially on frozen food, household goods and homewares, he added.
“We were surprised at how bad things were in some categories. It also isn’t good enough that only a handful of products from a list of 200 key lines were in stock at the leading supermarkets 100% of the time.”
Elaine Watson
No comments yet