Fewer grocery suppliers are experiencing issues, the Groceries
Code Adjudicator's (GCA) 2024 annual survey reveals today [11
July 2024]. However, less than half of respondents directly
supplying Amazon believed that it consistently or mostly complies
with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (the Code).
The results of the eleventh annual survey, which received more
than 3,000 responses, show that the number of suppliers
experiencing a Code issue fell from 36% to 33%.
There was a significant improvement in relation to cost price
increases (CPIs). As food price inflation has fallen, the number
of suppliers which requested at least one CPI from a Retailer
over the previous 12 months fell from 91% in 2023 to 67% in 2024.
The number of suppliers highlighting a Retailer's response to a
CPI as an issue almost halved, falling from 28% in 2023 to just
16%.
There has also been improved performance against other issues
impacting suppliers:
- 21% of suppliers highlighted inadequate processes in place to
enable invoice discrepancies to be resolved promptly, compared to
25% of suppliers in 2023.
- 11% of suppliers highlighted data input errors not being
resolved promptly, compared to 16% in 2023.
The survey also included a question on cost price decreases
(CPDs) for the first time; only 5% of suppliers highlighted
concerns about how a CPD had been requested by a Retailer.
Amazon
Despite the overall improvement in the treatment of suppliers,
Amazon's perceived Code compliance score fell from 59% to 47%.
The GCA has told Amazon that it must take swift and comprehensive
action to demonstrably comply with the Code. The GCA is
monitoring changes that Amazon is making and their impact on
suppliers to determine whether they are sufficient.
Mark White, the Groceries Code Adjudicator said:
“I am encouraged to see improvements in Retailers' treatment of
suppliers across a range of issues including the management of
cost price increase requests but also resolution of invoice
discrepancies and data input errors.
“However, the survey shows clearly that many suppliers do not
believe that Amazon is complying with the Code. Amazon must
ensure suppliers understand the changes it has made since its
designation and in response to these survey results, and make any
further changes that are needed to ensure Code compliance.
“I will not hesitate to launch a formal investigation if
appropriate and necessary to ensure Amazon is treating its
suppliers fairly and lawfully.
“I encourage suppliers to continue to confidentially tell me
about the issues they are facing with Amazon.”
Compliance performance
Overall compliance scores across the Retailers ranged from 98% to
47% with an average compliance across all 14 Retailers of 91%
compared to 92% in 2023. Excluding Amazon, average compliance was
94% which was unchanged from the non-Amazon score in 2023.
For the first time, Co-op came top of the 14 Retailers for
overall Code compliance with 98%. Co-op and Lidl both experienced
a 2% improvement, which was the biggest percentage improvement
across the 14 Retailers.
Next steps
As it does every year, the GCA will work with each of the 14
Retailers on their plans to address the issues raised by their
suppliers in the survey.
YouGov will undertake a series of deep-dive interviews with
suppliers on the GCA's behalf to provide a greater depth of
understanding about the issues that suppliers are facing and
their experiences supplying each of the 14 Retailers.
Annual conference
The GCA has also launched
registration for its hybrid annual conference, taking place
on 1 October 2024. YouGov will share the results of the deep dive
at the conference, the Adjudicator will discuss how the GCA is
responding to the survey and there will be discussions on
overcoming challenges facing the sector.
Further information
The 2024 annual survey was open from 15 January until 25 February
2024.
An information pack
(PDF, 241 KB, 6
pages) with the breakdown of the results is available.
