The Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group has been honoured with an award at The ECR Europe Awards, held at the Annual ECR European Leaders Forum in Brussels.
The ECR award, which was introduced to this year’s event to celebrate the work of the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group and its achievements, recognises the impact the Group has had on the industry. Presenting the award on the night, Thomas Hübner, Executive Director for Europe, Carrefour and Jan Zijderzeld, President, Unilever Europe paid tribute to the work of its members and the role the Group has had in improving industry knowledge and understanding on retail loss-related issues.
As one of the ECR’s long-standing programmes, the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group is credited with saving European retailers and manufacturers over €1.3 billion through the adoption of a new approach to managing loss prevention, characterised by developing best practice processes to improve customer satisfaction and retail profitability.
In its 15 years the Group has developed a number of research projects, providing retailers and manufacturers with tools and ways to do loss prevention. These focus on a range of topics led by members including shrinkage, self-scan check-outs, RFID and the role of technology. The Group received support from academics from the University of Leicester and the Cranfield School of Management.
Colin Peacock, ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group co-chair and Director, Shrink & Store Operations Improvement, Procter & Gamble, said: “The ECR Shrinkage Group’s commitment over the years has been focused on improving collaboration between retailers and manufacturers in order to address the challenge of total loss and discover new ways to reduce its impact on retail profitability. We are delighted that the Group’s research and results are being recognised with this special ECR award.”
John Fonteijn, Fellow co-chair and Head of Group Asset Protection at ROYAL AHOLD, added: “Being recognised by the ECR means that we’re getting our message across to the wider retail industry and not just loss prevention (LP) professionals. We know that loss prevention is not just the responsibility of dedicated LP staff, it requires a commitment from the whole organization so it is a real honour for us and for all the members of the Group to receive this award.”
And Neil Matthews, Vice President, Global Product Management, Checkpoint Systems UK, added: “We are proud to support the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group and be a part of the successful impact the Group is having on the European retail industry. We are very much looking forward to continuing to help the Group as it endeavors to understand and minimise the impact of total loss for the benefit of manufacturers, retailers and ultimately, consumers.”
The ECR Leaders’ Forum also recognised the work of ECR members across three categories, including ECR Achievement Award, Best ECR Activation Award and finally, Young Leaders Award 2014. Waitrose and Diageo took home the Best Activation Award for excellence on ECR collaboration for its programme ‘mentoring across customer-supplier boundaries’. The Young Leader’s Award went to Tony Holmberg of ICA for his driving role in the recent module of the ECR LaB Programme. Nikos Veropoulous, CEO of Veropoulous Bros was awarded the ECR Achievement Award for his commitment to the ECR Europe and the principles of collaboration.
The ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group is supported by Checkpoint Systems, the merchandise availability product supplier; and Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm.
The next (free) meeting of the Group is on June, 24, in Brussels. Agenda and registration details at http://ecr-shrink-group.com/files/Agenda-24th-June-2014.pdf.
