Riad Beladi talk to Andrew Grant ex Buying director at Tesco and Darren A. Smith ex Trading Manager at Sainsbury’s Understand the European Grocery Market and the European Supermarkets.
By Riad Beladi
Understand the European Grocery Market and the European Supermarkets
Suppliers from all over the world have aspirations to supply European supermarkets. Their challenge is that they do not understand the European Grocery Market or the European Supermarkets. In this Interview ISN’s Riad Beladi talk to Andrew Grant who was a Tesco Buying Director, worked at Tesco in buying for over 23 years and was responsible for over £2.2.bn of groceries and Darren A Smith who was a Trading Manager at Sainsbury’s, worked at Sainsbury’s for over 13 years, and was responsible for over £1bn of producethe . The mistakes that suppliers make when approaching or supermarket chain
In a supermarket chain buying decisions can be centralised at the head office, a Buying director can buy for over 2500 stores.
Advantages of supplying a supermarket chain
- Easier to deal with one buyer buying many stores rather than a number of smaller independent customers.
- Increase in brand awareness of your product with possible nationwide coverage.
- It may be easier to access financial assistance as banks may be more willing to lend to your business if you have a supplier contract with a well-known supermarket.
- Supermarkets have a lot of experience in selling different products and may be able to offer you advice and guidance that will help increase your sales
- Supermarkets help their suppliers improve process efficiency and grow their operations
Disatvatages
- The price you get for your product will be much less than if you sell direct to customers.
- the supplier will be under pressure to keep up with demand if your product sells well. You may have to invest in new equipment or expand premises to manufacture more of your products.
- Some supermarkets or retailers may audit their supplier to ensure certain criteria are met or insist on a business achieving certain food safety accreditations before being considered as a supplier
Walking with buyers in trade shows during my career at ISN I realised how important a supermarket buyer is to a supplier, but it is not easy to have their attentions . so what should a supplier do to have his product listed in supermarkets?
