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Published: February 7, 2020

As seen on GS1 Germany.

GS1 Germany and Advantage 2020

Digital change is increasingly pervading all areas of life and work and omnichannel has become the new reality in German retail. More complex trading conditions mean that business partners need to collaborate better in order to satisfy and stay relevant to more demanding and varying consumer needs.

Founded in Canada in 1988, Advantage Group has pioneered the concept of business-to-business engagement and relationship benchmarking. Advantage programs have become the industry standard for measuring business relationships in the FMCG, healthcare, pharmacy and food retail sectors in over 40 markets worldwide.

Since 2018, through the ECR benchmarking study, GS1 Germany has run its own program to provide a platform for retailers and suppliers to rate each other‘s level of cooperation across the value chain in areas ranging from product development to category management and supply chain.

Effective 2020, Advantage Group and GS1 Germany will partner to conduct a joint FMCG study aimed at helping the German consumer goods industry better uncover the strengths and weaknesses of supplier-retailer collaboration.

“We are very excited to be bundling our respective strengths and are confident that we will be creating a measurable and actionable standard for improving business relationships between manufacturers and retailers,” says Thomas Fell, CEO of GS1 Germany.

“GS1 Germany plays a valuable role in encouraging manufacturers and retailers to share information and work together to promote the industry. Similarly, at Advantage, we believe that collaboration and engagement are essential to unlocking the strength of any business relationship” says Richard Kellam, Advantage Group CEO. “By marrying Advantage’s global expertise in relationship benchmarking with GS1’s focal point as an industry intermediary, the German grocery industry will be well-positioned to identify and implement best practices”.

The first joint study, which will be made available to all manufacturers and retailers in the CPG industry to participate in and will field in April, with results being made available in July.

“Through a transparent, 360-degree view, manufacturers and retailers will receive detailed, honest feedback on their levels of cooperation from their respective partners,” says Birgit Schröder, Shopper Experience Lead at GS1 Germany. “Specific strengths and weaknesses along the value chain can be analyzed and manufacturers and retailers can use the results to jointly identify where they can improve.”

According to Prof. Dr. Lutz Anderie, General Manager at Advantage Germany “The cooperation between GS1 Germany and Advantage is an important step in the further development of Advantage‘s B2B engagement journey in Germany. We are pleased to be able to support the GS1 Germany member community with best-in-class analyses, rankings and digital solutions.”

 

GS1 Germany + Advantage Group

Organizations interested in participating in the 2020 program can obtain more information from Birgit Schröder, GS1 Germany (birgit.schroeder@gs1.de, +49 221 94714 432) and Dr. Lutz Anderie, Advantage Germany (landerie@advantagegroup.com, +49 1522 7537 825)

About Advantage Group International 

Advantage is on a mission to help businesses unlock growth through partnerships. Healthy relationships are the foundation of any successful business, large or small. Today’s ultra-competitive environment demands listening and responding. Making it matter helps everyone play at the top of their game. That’s what we’ve been doing at Advantage in 40+ countries for 30+ years. Helping businesses be better together. For more information, visit: https://www.advantagegroup.com/ 

About GS1 Germany

It started with a simple beep. In 1974 a barcode was scanned for the first time in a supermarket. This was the beginning of automated checkout – and the beginning of the GS1 success story. The machine-readable GS1 barcode with the included GTIN has become the universal standard in global goods exchange and is scanned for products six billion times a day. The GS1 standards are the global language for efficient and secure business processes that apply across company boundaries and continents. As part of a global network, we work with our customers and partners to develop market-oriented and future-oriented solutions that directly contribute to your company’s success. Today, two million companies from over 20 industries worldwide use this language to clearly identify products, locations and assets, and to collect relevant data and to share it with business partners in value creation networks. GS1 – The Global Language of Business.