ESM editor Kevin Kelly reportis live from the inaugural Bord Bia Global Sustainability Conference at Dublin's Convention Centre.
Following a retail trend which has developed quickly over the past few years, Tesco have articulated their intent to move further away from larger "hypermarket" model stores, and pursue more online and leisure opportunities.
Speaking at the very first Global Sustainability Conference in Dublin, organized by Board Bia [Irish food board], Tesco's Group Food Director Matt Simister [pictured] outlined how the streamlining of operations will make retail supply chains more sustainable.
"The one stop shop in the big hypermarket is not what consumers want any more. People are not coming to Tesco to buy electroinic products any more, they're going online," he said.
"Our bigger Extra stores are going to more shopping experiences," said Simister, who held up Tesco's mould breaking Watford store as the blue print reposition the brand as a retail and leisure destination rather than just a supermarket chain.
"The big stores will change fundamentally. The new supermarket of the future is the mobile phone and our apex is shifting quite considerably from the world of bricks to the world of clicks".
Simister said that the best way for supermarkets to make supply chains more sustainable, is to build a better level of visibility through them.
"Transactional, traditional buyer seller relationships are history. The traditional ways of working in our supply chains aren't geared towards the modern market. The competition for our own supply chains are much more likely to come from China as it is within our own countries," he said.
"Everybody along the chain adds value, the real opportunity to innovate comes if you can implement change right along the supply chain. We're going to look to more formal partnerships with our supply chains, and to waste less together".
Simister was one of almost 800 delegates, including 280 food buyers from 25 countries who attended the conference, which was opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The event featured speakers from companies and groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank, PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Mars, Kerry Foods and Nestlé.
The food buyers included Carrefour, Marks & Spencer, Chinese Dairy company Whaha, and Spinneys.
