Trade speaks out on UK buyers

In January this year the drinks business invited the trade to let us know what they really thought of the UK’s most powerful buying teams, and you certainly didn’t hold back with your opinions.

We received an extremely high level of response to our Buyers Survey, and certain leading retailers came under heavy fire from respondents who felt that the actions and business practices employed by the buyers either restricts trade or holds back growth for brands battling against a difficult economic backdrop in the UK.

There were winners and losers across the board, with Tesco unanimously voted the most powerful buying team in the UK, as well as being the most effective team at brand-building.

Majestic was voted the top buyer for offering value-for-money for your listing and was also named the most innovative team in the country, but neither Tesco nor Majestic could keep pace with Waitrose when it came to voting for the most professional team in the UK.

The responses we received contained a great deal of criticisms, however, about the state of the UK market and the role the buyers have played in getting it there. One said: “While [buyers] seem to have the power to make or break brands, most buyers are really just order-processing clerks and have little ability in the strategic thinking department. ’Stack it high, sell it cheap’ will always be their cornerstone.”

The issue of brand building proved to be a particular source of discontent among the trade, with one respondent saying: “None of the buyers care about brand building,” while another said: “Brands of wines or spirits are irrelevant to all the buyers. To them, price is the only thing that matters.”

It wasn’t all negative, however, and some retailers were singled out for praise by respondents.

One said Tesco “understands the consumer’s benefit of brands in wine”, while another said Waitrose offers “good dialogue between the buyers and me when either of us make promotional or publicity suggestions.”

Allan Cheesman, drinks industry consultant and former head of BWS at Sainsbury’s, also gave us his views on the current UK buying scene and offered his assessment of the buying trade.

“It is both an art and a science,” he said, “and it needs both flair, intuition and a well-run structure with all the checks and balances.”

For full details of the results of the Buyers Survey, see the March edition of the drinks business.

Alan Lodge, 15.03.2010