Leading the Way: 2012 Supplier Leadership Awards

Trading partner relations are on the upswing with more than half (52.2%) of respondents to SN’s Supplier Leadership Awards survey stating that in terms of sharing data, collaboration and other interactions, partnerships between suppliers and retailers have strengthened.

Helping minimize the negative effects of inflation, higher gas prices and economic uncertainty are mutually beneficial promotions and merchandising schemes designed to buoy sinking sales. While introspection was the hallmark of past strategies centered on corporate brands, a greater focus on the bigger picture has retailers turning to suppliers for help.

“As overall sales are struggling, retailers have become more interested in opening and expanding the relationship,” said a manufacturer respondent. “There is more and more exchange of information and planning with retailers than ever before,” said another.

Manufacturers are in turn finding value in teaming with proprietors of the retail environment. “Suppliers are in general much more interested in partnership rather than just a product and a price,” noted a retailer.

Indeed, in their quest to help supermarkets solve business issues and customize the shopping experience by store, suppliers are honing a range of disciplines from product innovation to shopper insights, and a host of others for which SN is recognizing best-in-class examples.

Nominations were gathered this summer via SN’s Supplier Leadership Awards survey and supplemented with suggestions from industry analysts. With special consideration paid to nominations citing specific benefits to retailers, SN editors selected the winners. Click the company names for summaries of our findings, fleshed out in more detail on the linked pages.