This week has seen a flurry of announcements about job losses across the UK’s top retailers:
- Tesco – 400
- Morrisons – 200 (with more to come)
- Sainsbury – 3,000
None of these retailers have overtly related these losses to the recent Employers N.I. increases, though in other commentary they have referred to the additional cost the increase in N.I. contributions would have on their business. The Guardian reported that the increase would add £140 million to Sainsbury’s wage bill. According to The Grocer, Tesco CEO Matthew Barnes blamed the ‘more competitive than ever’ UK grocery market for the cuts.
Whatever the real reason for these significant cuts, the effect on the commercial teams will be higher targets and pressure to increase profit and income. This will result in increased demands from retailers on their suppliers.
If you are a supplier to any of these retailers, have you prepared your customer teams to be able to negotiate effectively? GSCOP regulation is a key tool that customer teams can leverage in negotiation and day-to-day conversations. Have your teams been trained? Do they appreciate the way the Code can support them? Do they know the correct language to use to push back on requests whilst maintaining relationships with their buying teams?
GSCOP training will empower your teams to feel confident in this challenging environment. To support your customer and legal teams, the British Brands Group provides a range of functional training with courses covering GSCOP, Competition law and compliance and Trading with Amazon. All feature a strong commercial bias, being about understanding and application in the trading world. This training is available as Classroom or Virtual offerings.
These courses receive excellent feedback, scoring highly with attendees (4.5 or more out of 5.0) who state they would recommend the training to their colleagues. One delegate commented that: ‘Team activities using scenarios was a great help. It made the content relatable and actionable’