ESM attended the Retail and CPG Supply Chain Summit in London this week, to hear insight on everything from weather to World Duty Free. The two-day conference, at the Regent’s Park Marriott Hotel, was organised by Eye for Transport, a company better known for its annual 3PL conferences in the US and Europe.
Opening proceedings on Day One was Dan Curran of World Duty Free, a retailer with just 90 stores across 20 airports, but also with one of the most targeted consumer bases in the world; he discussed how WDF had achieved a 25 per cent sales increase and 20 per cent improvement in OSA through working closer with leading sunglasses provider Luxotica. Alan Penhale of Boots talked through his company’s use of automated warehousing in its single Store Service Centre (a facility that replaced the company’s existing network of 20 DCs), which was developed over five years with assistance from Witron. In the afternoon session, Gerald Poncet and Kees Jacobs of Capgemini discussed how consumer demands are shaping supply chains, and where businesses need to improve to keep ahead of trends.
Also appearing on the first day were Dionyssius Panayiotakis of General Mills, who discussed the group’s ‘Project Tango’ forecasting programme, Gary Lynch of GS1, who outlined the demands of the savvy 21st century shopper, Wendy Manning of Coca-Cola, who outlined the company’s carbon reduction strategies and David Antunes of Metro and Bernd Weisshar of Unilever who discussed the benefits of their growing collaboration agreement.
The highlight on Day Two was arguably Tom Hebbert of Tesco, who presented on the subject of weather forecasting, and how it impacts on stocking, particularly during the summer months. “A 10 degree rise in temperature will mean 300 per cent more sales of BBQ meat, 45 per cent more lettuce and 50 per cent more coleslaw,” he revealed. Day Two also featured a ‘Perfect Partner Workshop’, with host Edwin Tuyn encouraging discussion about a range of key subjects, and former Lego man Lars Kjaerbolling outlined how through a reduction in logistics costs of 35 to 40 per cent, the Danish toy organisation was able to turn around its fortunes.
The event was well-run, however, the numbers in attendance were relatively low, particularly on Day Two – which probably had more to do with it being the first holding of the event, rather than the quality of speakers. The low attendance (less than 100, we estimate) was beneficial from a networking point of view, however, with no shortage of opportunities for delegates to develop new contacts. With a bit more exposure, this could become a date well worth attending on the conference calendar. (24 Jun)
© 2011 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
