WASHINGTON -- Many distributors have developed a false sense of comfort about the lack of importance of certain Efficient Consumer Response initiatives, Allister Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of Oshawa Group, Etobicoke, Ontario, warned in a speech here last week.
But companies that lag in developing ECR savvy will pay a big price in the near future, he stressed.
"I find that a surprising number of executives still consider many aspects of ECR as optional," or attribute ECR's development to "a supply community which is seeking to alter traditional high/low buying arrangements with their myriad of inducements," he told a general assembly session at the Annual Business Conference & Partners Program of Food Distributors International. Graham is the current chairman of the board of FDI.
"While this fact may not appear at the present time to present serious consequences, it is a temporary reprieve that will change over time," he continued. "In all probability, as the leading firms develop the components of the initiative further, they will expect to reap the competitive gains which are possible and decrease their interest in persuading other members of the industry to participate."
Graham said that in such a scenario trade associations will be limited in how much they can compensate.
Graham's speech was an introduction to a panel session titled "Creative Marketing Strategies: New Directions and New Solutions." His talk touched on a number of topics, including changing consumer attitudes, ethnic marketing and home-meal replacement. His discussion of ECR extended beyond the distributor community. Graham said that implementation of electronic data interchange is an area where many distributors and manufacturers alike have fallen behind.
