Simply Supply Chain Blog – 27th October 2020

Despite the considerable impacts on the grocery supply chain this year, the Drop and Drive Claims Workgroup has continued to make great progress during 2020 and we were able to celebrate some incredible results at the final review of the year last week. Our 20+ supplier members were joined by Christine Tacon; outgoing Grocery Code Adjudicator, Mark White; her replacement plus senior managers representing Morrisons and Asda, for yet another open and collaborative session.

After 5 years of committed campaigning the workgroup was able to look back on some outstanding achievements:

• Total claims reduced by 90% vs 2014, recovering c.£13m p.a. for members Tesco – full implementation of their revised systems and processes, now achieving comparable levels of receipting accuracy, without the need for GFR
• 7 of the top 10 retailers now engaging with GFR
• Over £2 million of outstanding debt recovered from retailers due to historical claims disputes
• Collaborative workshops with Tesco and ASDA to continue to develop supply chain initiatives
• Awarded finalists’ in 2 award categories 2020 – Supply Chain Excellence and the CILT
• Endorsements from the Grocery Code Adjudicator and major retailers

“I appreciate all the work that the members of the SSC working group put into addressing an issue which I had raised as a serious concern. They got under the skin of the issue to work on practical solutions with retailers. In so doing, many other suppliers have benefited from their work and the GCA survey has shown a continued improvement in performance in what has been a longstanding problem.” Christine Tacon, Grocery Code Adjudicator

With Christine and now Mark White’s continued support we are looking forward to making even further progress in 2021 building on the collaborative support from the retailers and our suppliers to reduce errors, whilst improving efficiency and availability throughout the supply chain.

Jonathan Kittow, Chairman of the Drop and Drive Claims Workgroup comments, “we wish to thank Christine for all her support and work with the supplier group since its inception. We are extremely proud of the results we have achieved as a group and it is testament to true collaboration by suppliers and retailers alike to innovate.”

The 2021 programme is now confirmed with key focus areas:

• Maintain 90%+ reduction of disputed deductions from Top 10 retailers by end 2021
  • Standardise adoption of the new claims dispute resolution process across retailers
  • Establish a supplier best practice process for recovering valid GRNI claims
  • Develop a retailer best practice returns process to minimise waste and loss
• Ongoing GFR dialogue with Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op and M&S
  • Collaborative workshops with a minimum of three retailers
  • Establish best practice supplier standards to reduce receipting errors in DC and store
• Engage any ‘new’ GCA-remit retailers and collaborate on new focus topics including:
  • Supply chain forecasting and promotional management improvements

To find out more about the Drop and Drive Workgroup and the 2021 programme, please visit  our Events & Memberships page or get in touch with Jonathan Kittow, Chairman of the Drop and Drive Workgroup on hello@simply-sc.com