Edition 35: News from the Adjudicator
Read the latest newsletter from the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA).
I was delighted to see so many of you both in person and online at my conference in September. I have been busy since then so wanted to look back over the past few months and turn my attention to what’s coming up in 2024, including my annual supplier survey.
Progress meetings
In October, I met each of the 14 Code Compliance Officers (CCOs) as part of my regular engagement with the designated retailers (Retailers).
In the meetings, we discussed:
- The changes the 14 Retailers are making in response to their 2023 individual survey results.
- How the Retailers are managing cost price increases and decreases and ensuring the principles behind the 7 Golden Rules – clear communication, fair use of information, support for buyers, and no automatic de-lists – apply on the way down as on the way up. This includes encouraging the Retailers to ensure that suppliers who may have locked into longer term contracts with their own suppliers are given the opportunity to explain their individual circumstances to buyers, so decisions are not made based solely on changes in commodity indices.
- Any changes that Retailers are making to their supply chain structures for fresh produce. This includes the addition or removal of consolidators, buying or marketing desks and how that may afford or remove the protections of the Code to businesses in the supply chain.
I am keen that all suppliers understand that if they raise an issue with me or the CCO, their confidentiality will be protected. Retailers have committed that suppliers will face no negative consequences for raising a Code issue with the CCO, buying team or someone else in their businesses. In the progress meetings, I also encouraged all the CCOs to remind suppliers of these commitments.
A record of the meetings is available on the GCA website.
Audit Committee Chair meetings
I also met the Chairs of Retailers’ audit committees or Chief Executives in November and December. I used these meetings to highlight issues facing the Retailer and sector as a whole as well as ensuring that those overseeing Code compliance and the work of the CCO are aware of potential compliance issues and the need for the CCO to have the necessary support to drive positive change within their business.
2024 annual survey
In January, I will launch my 2024 survey, which will remain open until the end of February. Last year, I received more than 2,000 responses. These highlighted – for the second year in a row – the impact that inflation and cost price increases have had on the relationship between Retailers and suppliers.
Your responses helped me to better understand this, and other key issues facing the sector and informed my engagement with the Retailers, so please do respond to the survey in 2024.
One issue which regularly comes up in the survey is whether suppliers have a supply agreement; in 2023 less than half (47%) of suppliers believed that they do. An agreement can take many forms and include a range of documents and/or emails, but all suppliers should have an agreement. Depending on the Retailer, the agreement could be stored on a portal or may have been provided over email. If you’re unsure about where your agreement is, speak to the Retailer as they must provide it to you.
Meet the CCOs
Finally, I want to introduce Amazon’s new CCO, Tom Gorrard-Smith, who has answered some questions for this newsletter. You can find all the CCOs’ contact information in the Code Confident Pack.
Please introduce yourself to readers of News from the Adjudicator.
“I joined Amazon in 2017 and worked in retail and operations roles in our legal team, where I’ve supported our consumables business and the network of fulfilment centres which receive goods that our suppliers supply to us before transporting them to the homes of customers across the UK.
I’ve been appointed as Amazon’s CCO and I will ensure the important responsibilities that come with the role are delivered on behalf of our suppliers.
I am committed to ensuring we uphold our obligations under the Code and support our continued efforts to build an ever better experience for our suppliers.”
How do you work with suppliers?
“We have an open-door approach to our suppliers, and I want to ensure that continues. I would like to see the ability for our suppliers to have open discussions in which they can raise concerns with me, trusting in the knowledge that I will listen to their concerns and investigate them in the strictest of confidence, unless they give permission for me to share it outside of my CCO team.
I understand that this level of trust can take time to build, but I can reassure all our suppliers that they will never face any consequences when raising an issue with me or my team.
Any supplier who wants to get in touch can simply email me at codecomplianceofficer@amazon.co.uk.”
Where would you like to see further improvements in your relationship with suppliers?
“Since designation, we have worked hard and made significant changes to our processes to ensure we not only meet our obligations under the Code, but take the opportunity to improve our supplier experience of working with us.
Amongst other improvements, this includes launching a new financial dashboard to give suppliers a clearer overview of their business, extending written notice periods for changes to the products we stock, producing bite-sized training courses, and introducing a chatbot to help answer questions faster.
We also know that close collaboration with our suppliers to learn from their experiences is vitally important. To deliver that, we’ve recently held feedback sessions with suppliers to gain insights about how we can deliver a better service and will continue to have these conversations and implement improvements.
We’re also sharing information and insights with our suppliers through our newsletter to keep them updated on improvements and to provide advice. We will have further significant changes to announce shortly so I’d encourage our suppliers to look out for it.”
Further information
- If you are reading this on the GCA website but want to receive future newsletters into your inbox, you can sign up here.
- You can also follow the GCA LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) accounts to stay abreast of GCA updates.
Getting in touch
If you would like to get in touch with me and the GCA team on a confidential basis, please email enquires@groceriescode.gov.uk. You can also report issues 24/7 via the completely confidential platform telltheGCA.co.uk.
Mark White