TANGIBLE BENEFITS, TRUST KEYS TO CPFR SUCCESS

MARC MILLSTEIN

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Trust and commitment, bolstered by tangible evidence of lower costs and heightened sales, remain the key ingredients for cashing in on technology-rich business practices such as collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.

That was one of the key messages from two leading supermarket executives at the recently concluded Grocery Manufacturers of America's Executive Conference here.

The executives went on to say that while those terms have been bantered about for as long as retailers and manufacturers have been doing business, the paybacks promised by technology-enabled practices such as CPFR should be the impetus needed to usher in a new age in how traditionally adversarial segments of the retailing industry work together.

Larry Stablein, executive vice president, merchandising and marketing, Albertson's, Boise, Idaho, and Nicholas Ioli Jr., senior vice president and chief information officer, A&P, Montvale, N.J., spoke about the potential impact and value of CPFR during a workshop at GMA.

"The key point in this whole [CPFR] initiative is that new capabilities are coming to the table that didn't exist in the past. It is very important for retail -- and we are committed to doing this -- that as these new capabilities come forward, trade partners jointly make the commitment to share information and practices with each other," Stablein said.

While sharing of information between retailers and manufacturers has never been an easy topic, the advent of programs such as CPFR should prompt a revised look at how trading partners work together.

The impetus for such change, both executives concurred, will stem from the very real and tangible benefits that can be proved to emerge from involvement in programs such as CPFR.

"With the evidence of tangible returns, I think you'll find [many of us] ready to quickly embrace a lot of these practices," such as CPFR, Stablein said.

"In the industry, as I see it, there have been some adversarial relationships in the past between manufacturers and retailers," Ioli noted. But that shouldn't necessarily be the case going forward, especially when it comes to programs that can benefit all sides of the industry, including and especially consumers. "If CPFR meets the promise, ultimately the customer will be the beneficiary," he said.

"There has to be a foundation of trust," Stablein added. "The whole thing has to start with a good solid view of both sides of the partnership."