Coop: increasing attention to the origin of products and their value-related content

Gen 25, 2016

3 billion euros in turnover and a market share of 30%: truly important figures those recorded by the Coop product and presented during Marca 2016. And in line with the scenarios outlined by IRI on private labels, the best performing lines are those with a high value-related content such as Fior Fiore (gastronomic excellence), Vivi Verde (organic) and Bene.sì (healthy products).

“Substantially– explains Roberto Nanni, Coop brand product strategy manager, – we have recorded stability in turnover and simultaneously, as a result of the value-for-money campaign “Low Prices… Always”, we have achieved a significant increase in volume without ever renouncing the indispensable element for us, i.e. the quality of our private label product”.

Commitments for 2016

On this front, Coop has declared its intention to extend the “Raw Material Origins” project that allows consumers in real time, through a simple link to the dedicated website, to find out where the main materials that comprise that product come from, going back up the supply chain, from the table to the field. The idea behind it is that we must go beyond the indication of the manufacturer and, unique in Italy and Europe, Coop activated this information project already two years ago. Next to “where it is produced” we must then always indicate “how”: the origin is useful information, but equally important are the guarantees on the production methods, the controls and the product safety and quality characteristics. All value-related fields to which Coop has always been strongly committed and which it will continue to constantly monitor.

The omnichannel challenge involves the integrated supply chain

fabrizio.gomarasca

Set 28, 2015

In the omnichannel scenario that is emerging, the supply chain is increasingly becoming the key for integrating the different channels and allowing a common inventory. This, according to Franck Lheureux, GVP South & CE Europe of JDA, who we met at the Word Retail Congress, is the critical factor of greatest impact for retail. Closer integration of eCommerce, order management and all the elements of the supply chain will be vital to provide better customer service, thanks to greater responsiveness and, at the same time, improved business efficiency.

The main issue for retailers is to monitor the various channels, making products arrive at the customer in a profitable manner. “Profitability is the mantra for retailers”.

Also the time factor is crucial in the organisation of the supply chain, because cycles are accelerating. “Today, time is measured in instants – says Lheureux – and is important for profitability in the management of customer demand. Since it is necessary to instantly respond to customer orders, the inventory must be available exactly where and when the customer expects the product to be delivered”.

In this process, also stores must change: the shopping experience must be enhanced and they must become places of pleasant experience in themselves. “If you do not emotionally connect the customer with the brand, if you do not create interactivity, you risk losing brand equity and consequently consumers,” underlines Lheureux.

Fight against food waste and the grocery industry: what retailers are doing in Europe

Anna Muzio

Giu 16, 2015

After France, even Europe could come to pass a law to force large-scale distribution to take care of food products discarded because, for various reasons, they are unsellable. But many European retailers have long since embarked on internal initiatives and awareness campaigns to address the issue. An overview of the actions put in place in the field is made – with a wealth of case histories – by the 2014 “Retail Agreement on Waste” report by Eurocommerce, which includes the trade associations of the Old Continent, and European Retail Round Table.

In 2012, 20 retailers from various segments, from clothing to food, from furnishings to consumer electronics, adhered to the Retail Waste Agreement, pledging, by the middle of 2014, to put in place at least two awareness campaigns against waste addressed to the end customer. Recently, another six retailers signed the same agreement. The initiative took place within the Retailers’ Environmental Action Programme (REAP) supported by the European Commission.

Below are the types of initiatives put in place and the segments covered. The full report can be downloaded here.

Consumer “Tips”. Recipes for using leftovers, information on how to manage the cold chain (starting with, simply, as El Corte Inglès does, how to transport frozen food from the store to the home, how to arrange food in the fridge and how long it lasts once opened), through leaflets, house organs, social media or in-store posters. Asda last year launched the Simply Roast in the Bag packaging, a bag for roast chicken on which recipes and tips on how to use the leftovers were printed, and a QR Code which referred to the website with videos and recipes. Albert Heijn distributed a million “measuring cups” to dose the right amount of pasta and rice. The Dutch Vak Centrum invites customers to take fresh produce with the closest expiry date if they know they will use them in a short space of time; the habit of selecting the product with the longest expiry date increases waste.

How to educate the supplier. Carrefour France has created an award for the most virtuous supplier. The jury is composed, in addition to retailers, of the Ministry of the Environment, WWF and a pool of journalists.

Sustainable promotions. The classic 2 for the price of 1 promotions have been put on trial because they lead consumer to buy more, increasing the risk of waste, especially of food with expiry date. Some chains have decided to ban them. Auchan in French hypermarkets has taken a third route: “deferred” two for the price of one. For one week a month, when buying the first product, the customer gets a voucher to pick up the second a week later. Of the 100,000 of coupons distributed each month half are used.

Ugly but good. Billa in Germany has created the “Wunderlinge” brand for fruit and vegetables with strange shape but perfectly good.

Circular economy. That is, what is produced is recycled and reused. Lidl in Germany recycles 50% of PET bottles of its Saskia and Freeway brands. Rewe is increasing the percentage of plastic recycled and withdraws on site the packaging of Frosch-Cleaning products. The Dutch restaurant Instock uses unsellable products (imminent expiry dates, damaged packaging) picked with electric vehicles from Albert Heijn supermarkets. Since last summer, it has already “saved” 20,000 portions.

Packaging counts. Coop Denmark has decided to sell bananas individually because the pack, even if it contains only one marked banana, as often happens, is not purchased, and six thousand bananas a day were thrown away. Coop UK has discovered that the holes in the packaging of fresh produce to reduce internal humidity, if managed by a laser guided by a computer, allow the shelf life to be extended by one day with a consequent reduction in waste. Coop Norway has indicated on bags and packs the percentage of waste of fruit and vegetables, but also in packaged food the waste of that particular product.

Raising staff awareness. 75% of employees in the Carrefour head office in Poland have followed a program on how to reduce energy consumption at home and at work.

Learning while playing: quizzes, games, contests. Carrefour has put on line a questionnaire to determine energy consumption: the first drawn won an energy-efficient dishwasher. Ikea in the Czech Republic has invited customers to create objects out of waste material. The creators of the best projects participated in a course held by professional designers. The proceeds from the sale of the items went to charity. Many courses and competitions involve schools.

Ugly but good. Billa in Germany has created the “Wunderlinge” brand for fruit and vegetables with strange shape but perfectly good.

Les Gueules Cassées, the fight against food waste coming from France

fabrizio.gomarasca

Giu 10, 2015

The fight against food waste is making headway in many countries. While the French law sanctioning the destruction of unsold products by distribution is raising some concerns related primarily to the fact that large-scale distribution in France already has good anti-waste practices in place, so much so as to be responsible for (only) 11% of waste, compared to the 67% of households, from France comes an initiative worthy of examination.

An anti-waste system called Les gueules cassées (broken faces, which could be translated as “ugly but good”) that involves putting products (vegetables, packaged products, cheese, etc.) on the market that are ugly looking but definitely edible. The initiative, financed in crowdfunding, was founded by two sons of farmers, has created its own label and in just eight months of operation has sold more than 10 thousand tonnes of fruit and vegetables. Of course, the pears are a bit spotted and the carrots and eggplants are not perfect and are not of the same size, but they are nevertheless edible. The same is also true for the raw milk Camembert produced in Normandy which, because of its irregular shape, cannot use the designation mark or the breakfast cereals which are too large or too small compared to the standard. All, however, have a common denominator. They cost the consumer 30% less than the normal prices. Which explains its rapid increase of notoriety throughout France and the inclusion of this range of products in the major retailers: Carrefour, Leclerc, Monoprix, Franprix, Casino, Spar and Vival.

The latest introduction is fresh products. With the Les Gueules Cassées label they cost 50% less, remain on the shelf until the expiry date and retailers do not have to incur the withdrawal costs.

The initiative will soon be extended to traditional retail and has attracted the attention of as many as 18 foreign countries and by June a meeting with a delegation from the United States has been announced.

The Italian fruit and vegetable industry is looking to exports, among opportunities and difficulties

fabrizio.gomarasca

Apr 27, 2015

Italy is a major producer of fruit and vegetables, exporting 3.9 million tonnes (2014, +4.4%) and 4.1 million euros (-1.2%), with a share of 22% of fresh and processed produce, one point more than beverages. But how can exports be increased (also to compensate for the decline in the domestic market of 5.7% over the past 5 years) and which are the countries to be targeted? This was discussed at the seminar “Internationalisation of fruit and vegetable companies: concrete answers to emerging needs” organised by Fruit Innovation, the new fruit and vegetable exhibition which will make its debut at Fiera Milano Rho from 20 to 22 May 2015 with a mission: innovate and internationalise the industry.

Exports vary greatly depending on the product, we are the leader in the export of pears (with 718,000 tonnes, especially to Germany), stable in eating grapes of which half are exported, with the American market and seedless varieties growing, and we are the world’s second largest producer of kiwifruit (after China), 80% of which is exported to 100 countries, while we have decreased in a historical product such as citrus fruits, for which the balance of trade is negative.

The weaknesses of exports were summarised by Marco Salvi, President of Fruitimprese:

Phytosanitary barriers: if there is no bilateral agreement with the country in question, the result of political and diplomatic activity, you cannot export. In Japan, for example, we can only export processed oranges; in China we export 15,000 tonnes of kiwifruit.

The Russian embargo: fruit and vegetables have been hard hit, because it accounted for 39% of European exports, and is the largest importer of pears.

The conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East: that threaten an extremely promising and growing market.

The lack of a policy of commercial expansion involving companies and focussing promotional investments on selected markets.

Higher costs compared to other countries (including Spain, a direct competitor) in terms of labour, energy and transport.

“Companies, politics, universities and research need to form a system. 260 million euros for Made in Italy products have already been allocated by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), which could allow us to make the quantum leap. We must invest in communication: for Pink Lady apples, for example, we invest 10 million euros a year. We are market leaders in many products, but we must avoid doing as we did for oranges, where we are the tail-end in exports: who would have said so 25 years ago?” warned Marco Salvi, President of Fruitimprese.

Claudio Scalise, Managing Partner of SGMARKETING, on the other hand, identified the opportunities to be seized at this point in time, positive due to the favourable euro/dollar exchange rate, oil prices at all-time lows and the beginning of recovery in consumption. “Among the trends I see are the increasingly blurred distinction between fresh and processed produce (see ready-prepared fresh produce) and exports that think in terms of the supply chain, from manufacturer to distributor to processor”. Another crucial lever is adaptation of the strategy to the different markets which request different things: critical consumption, service and aesthetics for mature markets, so product presentation becomes of crucial importance; quality standards, brand and service for emerging markets, for which imported fruit and vegetables are a status symbol for the middle class; and price for “New Frontier” countries (Africa, India, Turkey, Middle East), where fruit and vegetables are a commodity.

For JDA, 8 out of 10 companies segment the supply chain, but not always in an innovative way

fabrizio.gomarasca

Mar 5, 2015

The growing complexity of the supply chain requires precise choices and manufacturing companies and retailers are aware of this, so much so that 80% said they had adopted advanced processes and methods such as the segmentation of the same: this is what emerges from the JDA Vision 2015 Supply Chain Market Study, a new report produced by Talant for the JDA Software Group which involved 255 business decision makers of retailers and manufacturing companies in 17 countries.

The strategies, moreover, are different and do not always use advanced technology solutions and proven best practices. “The supply chains of retailers and manufacturers have become increasingly complex, often distributed across multiple geographies, with dozens of commercial partners involved – said Kevin Iaquinto, Chief Marketing Officer of JDA -. Our report shows that, while decision makers recognise this complexity, in practice there is slow adoption of advanced technology practices and solutions to manage the challenges in key areas such as production planning and scheduling, supply chain planning and execution and demand and transport management”.

58% mentioned “the integration of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP ) processes” as a strategic priority for the next 12 months, while 46% indicated “improvement of the agility of planning and production processes” among the strategic priorities.

Three major trends emerged from the survey.

1- Supply chain planning and execution: innovation necessary but not supported
Which are the priorities in terms of inventory management? Few doubts and nuances, given that 93% of Executives responded “Improve service levels” and 88% “Align inventory with demand”. A clear method of measuring and improving effectiveness in this area is, however, missing: respondents indicated at least 25 different parameters to evaluate performance in the inventory management area. In addition, most companies do not have advanced technology and specific tools. 59% of respondents believe that “Implementing automation” to manage inventory is a key initiative for the future. The three main objectives indicated concerning planning and execution of the supply chain are: integration of S&OP processes with the inventory planning process (indicated by 100%); improvement of the productivity of planners through improved exception management and increased automation (indicated by 93%); rationalisation of the product portfolio (indicated by 90%).

2- Demand management: frequent launches and promotions require more accurate forecasts
To meet the needs of today’s price-conscious and innovation-driven consumers, retailers and manufacturers have made significant investments to frequently launch new products and support more aggressive promotional campaigns. From the JDA survey, however, it emerges that companies do not have advanced solutions for forecasting the effects of these costly initiatives. For the launch of new products, 59% of companies surveyed do not use forecasting tools or rely on retrospective estimates developed by sales and marketing teams, and only 3% of managers interviewed indicated that their organisation uses technology to support statistical methods to forecast the results of sales promotions.

3- Transport management: lower costs through partnerships and technology
The management of transport processes represents the moment of truth in terms of profitability, yet, on average, the panel of the JDA survey indicated that 33% of orders require additional expediting actions, significantly reducing margins. A surprising number of companies employ neither advanced tools nor best practices to solve this problem. Only 26% of organisations adopt a model based on shared services for centralised management of transport and only 46% have established a carrier programme. Moreover, only 43% of companies use software solutions to optimise the management of transport processes and operations.

€ 750 million less in transport costs with collaborative logistics

fabrizio.gomarasca

Gen 30, 2015

In an industry such as the consumer industry that handles approx. 3 billion parcels each year, collaborative logistics management has an directly measurable impact in terms of efficiency and sustainability. According to data presented yesterday at the conference “Collaborative logistics: an increasingly strategic lever” organised in Milan by GS1 Italy | Indicod-Ecr the potential savings in the entire consumer supply chain with efficient loading units and trip saturation close to 100% is approximately 750 million euros with 600 million kilometres travelled less and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 47%, equal to 510 thousand tonnes per year.

Results that recognise in loading unit efficiency and vehicle saturation the two “collaborative” levers on which the Italian consumer supply chain must focus if it wants to further reduce the industry-distribution system costs, to the benefit of the consumer.

“These are important numbers for consumer companies and for the entire national system”, said Stefano Agostini, Chairman and CEO of Sanpellegrino Nestlé Waters and Director of GS1 Italy | Indicod-Ecr, in his opening speech. “A change of mentality is, however, necessary, we must also have the courage to change and the only way is to discuss with the customer, with the consumer”.

These numbers also summarise the value of supply chain collaboration in logistics and are a reminder of the much wider benefits which, according to Daniel Corsten, Professor at the IE Business School in Madrid, the Italian consumer industry could reap from good Ecr practices to overcome the fragmentation that characterises it. As long as their implementation, says Corsten, is based on a solid alignment of objectives and sound coordination mechanisms.

“Supply chain collaboration in fact requires the company perimeter to be overcome”, said Silvia Scalia, Ecr Coordinator for Italy of GS1 Italy | Indicod – Ecr”and the adoption of models for sharing processes among all industry players. Principles that have always been adopted by the companies participating in Ecr Italy, making the implementation of innovative solutions and operational tools that we are presenting today possible and that will facilitate good practices in collaborative logistics”.

The reference is to the results of the research activities that Ecr Italy has carried out in collaboration with University centres represented by Fabrizio Dallari, Director of the Research Centre on Logistics at the LIUC Cattaneo University, and by Gino Marchet, Professor of Logistics at the Politecnico di Milano:

Mapping of logistics flows: a study of the phenomena that characterise the logistics of the Italian consumer system and a photograph of the logistics flows and their morphology, the quantification of their size a specific analysis on the saturation of vehicles, both in plan and in volume.
Analysis of the costs of non-optimisation: a quantification of the costs of the order to delivery process which highlighted the cost differentials between different logistic practices and reorder models, and has produced a veritable Simulator of Optimal Industry Reordering – SIRIO. – a tool to estimate the cost differential between different reordering hypotheses for a given product.
Logistics atlas: an updated geographical map and a survey of the main logistics hubs – over 1,000 distribution and storage centres of consumer food goods managed by logistics operators in Italy, with the objective of providing an overview of the national distribution network and highlighting opportunities for optimisation along the supply chain and in transport and asset sharing.

Sainsbury’s reduces the alcohol in Prosecco

Anna Muzio

Ott 27, 2014

Sainsbury’s Prosecco di Conegliano has been reformulated to have a lower alcohol content, without affecting the taste, decreasing from 11% to 10.5%: this, according to the British retail chain, will lead customers to consume one million units of alcohol less per year. The wine, a best seller in the Sainsbury’s “Taste the Difference” top-of-the-range line, is produced by Cantine Riunite and is a DOCG. Reformulation of the alcohol content falls under the 20×20 campaign, with which the British large-scale distribution giant has decided to double the sales of “light wines”, i.e. with low alcohol content.

Corporate responsibility thus takes a further step forward, and after having verified that the producers and manufacturers of products sold follow good social and environmental practices, it is now taking care of the health of its customers.

Sainsbury’s wine expert, Ryan Carter, explained: “We take the fact that our customers learn to drink responsibly and their requirements very seriously. We were the first to adopt the Department of Health guidelines on alcohol labelling and at the beginning of the year we introduced an indication of the calories on our private label wines. This new spumante is the result of collaboration between our internal team of wine experts and those of Cantine Riunite. The reduction of the alcohol content was a challenging process from the technical point of view, but I’m pleased to say that the new version in taste tests carried out with our customers was on a par with the 11% alcohol content version”.

Sainsbury’s has also earned the praise of British Health Minister, Jane Ellison, who hoped that other chains would put in place “similar initiatives”.

Tag: Distribution

Coop: increasing attention to the origin of products and their value-related content

The omnichannel challenge involves the integrated supply chain

Fight against food waste and the grocery industry: what retailers are doing in Europe

Les Gueules Cassées, the fight against food waste coming from France

The Italian fruit and vegetable industry is looking to exports, among opportunities and difficulties

For JDA, 8 out of 10 companies segment the supply chain, but not always in an innovative way

€ 750 million less in transport costs with collaborative logistics

BrandContent

La Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria Igp è protagonista nei piatti delle feste per la sua croccantezza, dolcezza e versatilità

Fotogallery

Tuttigiorni arriva nel Lazio e inaugura ad Ardea (Roma)

Esselunga, a Mantova nuova profumeria eb su due piani

Riapre l’Esselunga di via Monte Rosa a Milano, all’interno c’è il Bar Atlantic

Il database online della Business Community italiana

Diritto alimentare

Veuve Clicquot, il marchio arancione non è un segno distintivo