FMCG supply chain needs more collaboration

Nick Gazzard CEO of CoreProcess International plc, a leader in business process and value management software, says that South African grocery retailers are doing well in terms of the range and quality of the products they carry, but with regards to the supply chain, there is still a need for greater collaboration between retailers and suppliers.

Gazzard sites, as example: retailers are often obliged to run promotions that lose money, simply because of an arrangement with a supplier to run a certain number of promotions on their product each year. The inability to predict how much stock is needed for the promotion can result in large consignments being returned to the supplier. But if they could work together, they could re-configure the promotions process in a way that benefits both retailer and supplier - as well as the consumer.

CoreProcess is currently developing a solution that will empower trading partners to assist with collaboration. Four years ago CoreProcess' mainly UK-based board of directors, chaired by John A. Cooper, recognised the brilliant IT skills in SA and based the company's development and support team in Cape Town.

This investment and commitment to SA was recently recognised by the UK government.