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M&S ranks number one in GCA’s annual supplier survey

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HIGHLIGHTS

  • Marks & Spencer (M&S) ranked number one company in the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA)’s annual supplier survey.
  • The survey ranks 14 UK grocery retailers on how they treat their suppliers, by looking at things like payment, supply terms and processes, and fair behavior–known as the Groceries Code.
  • M&S scored 99% for overall compliance with the Groceries Code, which is the highest score a retailer has ever received.

M&S tops the GCA survey

M&S has been ranked number one company in the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA)’s 2023 annual supplier survey.

The GCA survey ranks 14 UK grocery retailers on how they treat their suppliers based on various parameters such as payment, supply terms and processes, and fair behavior–known as the Groceries Code. The survey, which received over 2,000 responses for the third successive year, indicates that inflation is likely to exacerbate issues faced by suppliers due to delays and errors in implementing price rises.

M&S scored 99% for overall compliance with the Groceries Code, which is the highest score a retailer has ever received. It’s a huge jump for M&S’ previous ranking of 11th in the years 2020 and 2021.

Ending supply chain gap

TCS played a pivotal role in helping M&S with supplier management.

TCS successfully executed various supplier management programmes for M&S.

  • TCS implemented ‘One Food Platform’, a single digital point of contact for suppliers to engage with M&S.

  • TCS partnered with M&S in their ‘Good Faith Receipt Transformation Programme’. Together, through its technology and business transformation teams, TCS applied correct standards across the network. Every consolidation hub now has the right processes and system capability in place to manage suppliers’ stock. TCS also made changes to support inbound standards such as no overs (ensuring the quantity suppliers deliver is not more than the ordered quantity), correct units per tray, and date life information.

  • TCS so far has led large-scale supplier engagement initiatives, including multiple briefings, workshops, and fortnightly drop-in clinics to support supplier transition.

  • Together with M&S, TCS has driven stock integrity improvements that have reduced free stock and stock loss. The TCS-M&S joint effort also significantly improved supplier compliance—advanced shipping notice (ASN) failure has been almost eliminated (suppliers send ASN for every trailer).

  • In addition to the industry recognition based on grocery suppliers' feedback in the GCA survey, M&S has been able to reap significant benefits by removing delays in supplier payment, streamlining supply chain and logistics operations, and reducing supply chain stock losses of over £3m. They were also able to reduce free-stock financial risk by over £10m, improving their profitability in the highly competitive grocery market. Where grocery suppliers are non-compliant with the expected operational standards, M&S can offer suppliers the opportunity to take their shipment back or to transfer stock to charity partners with confidence that there is no financial risk to their operations.

I’m delighted to see M&S take the top spot in the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA)’s annual supplier survey, up from third last year, with the highest-ever recorded score of 99%. We’ve climbed 10 places in the last three years with digital and technology impacting several initiatives–notable mentions to the One Food Platform creation and the Good Faith Receipt Transformation Programme. TCS has been a critical partner in these initiatives, and we share in this success together.
RICHARD BEAUMONT

CTO—Group Support at Marks and Spencer

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