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December 2007
Introducing Pat Thomas: Interregna’s retail specialist
 Interregna is very pleased to welcome Pat Thomas to the management team. She brings thirty years experience of retail, wholesale and business services to Interregna, particularly in marketing, strategy and product sales design roles, and will be placing candidates in this exciting sector.
Her career highlights includes stints in operations, buying and marketing roles in supermarket and CTN groups (some of whose fascias are now long gone) as well as time in Advertising and Business Services organisations. In the late 1980’s, as Marketing Director for Booker Cash & Carry (from where she picked up expertise in foodservice and the CTN market), she grew her department from scratch to a team of over 100. At Mobil and BP, she helped structure the IT, ranging, in-store display and logistics required to push through the enormous move from selling little more than petrol on forecourts to the convenience shopping we take for granted today. And at Capita, she saw the company take on groundbreaking contracts such as TV licensing, Congestion Charging and the Criminal Records Bureau.
So with a track record of over thirty years in retail, together with time in business-to-business service environments what trends has Thomas identified in food retailing?
Technology and data management
“Going back to the mid 1980’s, retailers were already seriously thinking about in-depth data management,” she says. “The big question was always: what information can we squeeze out of our loyalty cards and transaction data? This was true for both wholesale and retail sectors. Having effective technology, and the data which it can generate, has been a holy grail ever since.
“But even if you talk to pioneers like Tesco, Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer, major retailers are still only managing to extrapolate a relatively small amount of useful information from what’s actually there. The cost of pulling out really granular data is still high; and there is a danger that too much data can lead to total overload and little real benefit. At least today’s investments in knowledge management solutions provide considerably more functionality and economic benefit than fifteen years ago, enabling those at all stages of the supply chain to see value from the data outputs; from the grower and producer through to individual outlets.
End of the Dynasty
Nobody can deny that the big retail players are changing fast- indeed this is why the recruitment of interim talent is becoming necessary within the sector. The major supermarkets are now finance houses - they offer credit cards, insurance and even estate agency services. They operate across continents and online. Thomas says “It’s been a hard transition. Most of the original big names in food retailing - Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Morrison’s- were founded by families. They are rooted in strong dynasties, and in each case they have had to accept that cultures, management and business processes needed to undergo dramatic change in order to remain successful. Stakeholders, be they internal or external, increasingly expect new and more complex corporate values from the business as it strives to provide them with acceptable returns.
New Markets
The world continues to shrink with organizations large and small increasingly able to access new markets. That can mean opening stores abroad, developing new formats, expanding into new product and service offerings or creating sophisticated virtual outlets using the internet as the shop window.
For example, “This Christmas, watch out for advertisements which pitch your local supermarket against clothes and electrical retailers- these products (along with financial services) offer higher margins, and what could be more convenient that buying goods and services for you and your home along with the weekly shop? ”
And still to come…
And finally, then, Thomas’ trends to watch out for in the next 18 months or so:
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Global marketing, yet to the individual: a continuation of the segmentation and data mining which allows big brands to build ever more personal shopping relationships.
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An upward conveyor-belt: As standards of living increase, so price becomes less of an issue, and service matters more. Even traditionally low-end retailers like Aldi are successfully selling broader ranges.
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Supermarkets exerting influence on brands: Nestle, Danone, Unilever, P&G and Heinz are all giant companies. But they need the supermarkets as much as we consumers do. There is a continuing trend of new products being launched in collaboration with, or at least after consultation with, the major supermarkets. Nobody wants to develop and launch a new product, only to find that they are denied access to 60% of the market. Indeed, the cost of making a mistake in entering the UK market with a product is so high that new products are being launched elsewhere in Europe first in order to reduce the risk of rejection.
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More ethical and green credentials: All the major retail players are taking strides to emphasise their green credentials, and this is set to continue. The Co-Op has carved a very successful niche as the leader in Fairtrade and ethically manufactured products; and Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are also driving their Fairtrade and organics business. The next big step will be in delivering real reductions in waste in both packaging and in the food we buy
If Interregna can help you with placements in retail, wholesale, product marketing, retail IT or agency/client marketing, Pat is here to help. Contact her at Interregna on 020 8940 8078.
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