Advantage Group Logo
  • Our Expertise
    • Strengthening Supplier Partnerships
    • Improving Retailer Relations
    • Increasing Distributor Engagement
    • Boosting Employee Engagement
    • Supporting Sales Teams
  • Engagement Solutions
    • Advantage Report
      • How it Works
      • Actioning Feedback
      • Program Benefits
      • Advantage Analytics
      • Refined Framework
    • Advantage Custom Solutions
      • Solutions Benefits
      • Feedback Needs
    • Advisory Services
  • Client Testimonials
  • Insights
  • About Us
    • People
    • Careers
    • Media
  • Blog
  • Locations
  • Login
  • Contact Us
Advantage Logo White

Talk to an Advantage expert today

Looking for localized support?

Discover Locations

Seeking a new job opportunity?

Discover Careers

Advantage Logo White
Advantage Logo White

Select the Advantage platform that fits your needs

Require technical support?

Help Desk
advantage-analytics-colour advantage cadence Advantage report
Advantage Logo White
Advantage Group International Logo
Advantage Group International Logo
  • Our Expertise
    • Our Expertise
    • Strengthening Supplier Partnerships
    • Improving Retailer Relations
    • Increasing Distributor Engagement
    • Boosting Employee Engagement
    • Supporting Sales Teams
  • Engagement Solutions
    • Engagement Solutions
    • Advantage Report
      • A 360° view of your business relationships for improved engagement and performance.
      • How it Works
      • Actioning Feedback
      • Program Benefits
      • Advantage Analytics
      • Refined Framework
    • Advantage Custom Solutions
      • Purpose-built research programs examining your most critical business relationships.
      • Solutions Benefits
      • Feedback Needs
      • Client Testimonials
    • Advisory Services
  • Client Testimonials
  • Insights
  • About Us
    • People
    • Careers
    • Media
  • Blog
  • Locations
  • Login
Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Partnerships

How Collaboration Serves as the Foundation to Growth for Both Suppliers and Retailers

Published: September 16, 2021

While many associate the concept of disruption with the global pandemic, others have branded the pandemic as a catalyst for outstanding outcomes in an industry that had gotten a bit stuck. How was the CPG industry able to accomplish progress that would have been mapped out over the span of 4-5 years in only a matter of months? The need of the pandemic was the catalyst. This delivered a response from retailers and suppliers to ultimately work closer together than ever before as individual agendas were put aside along with expectations, processes, and particular ways of working to a more collaborative form of engagement.

People in boardroom discussion

Looking forward, the industry faces an ongoing pandemic and many other challenges such as emerging channels, evolving business models, rising costs, and calls for greater social and environmental consciousness.  And at the centre of it all, consumer needs and expectations are evolving faster than ever. In a recent article by Bain & Company, six strategies were recommended to achieve ‘growth for both’ US brands and retailers:

  • Decide where to focus your efforts
  • Understand the other sides’ strategy and P&L
  • Recognize that their timeline and planning horizon might be different from yours
  • Be transparent on areas where there is value to be created
  • Raise the number and quality of touch points
  • Track the progress

To add to this, Advantage Group, emphasize collaboration as the critical prerequisite to achieving growth for both. Suppliers who are strong in collaboration will find that these strategies can lead them and their retailer partners on the pathway to sustainable success with great speed, efficiency and even enjoyment. There will be no sustainable pathway to growth for both retailers and suppliers without collaboration lighting the way. And, many will agree it’s simply more rewarding to work with collaborative partners.

Two people in conversation at work

The good news is that a lot of the opportunity for collaboration sits within business relationship fundamentals. Consider:

1. Prioritizing Relationship Communications

The bar can be raised when it comes to improving and prioritizing how suppliers communicate and manage their relationships with retailers. Even leading suppliers in the US marketplace have a gap to close when it comes to absolute customer satisfaction. Understanding the customer’s strategy provides insight into their needs for today and what it will take to partner and win with them tomorrow. Strong and frequent communications ultimately lead to building and maintaining trust between business partners. We have also seen transparency emerge as a key differentiator in business-to-business partnerships.

As one US retailer shared:

“If suppliers only knew what we dealt with every day, they wouldn’t worry about telling us the bad news, it’s just better that we know so we can plan accordingly”.

In 2020, the top-rated US suppliers in the Advantage Report all performed well above industry average with regards to these critical relationships competencies of understanding their customer’s strategy; communication; responsiveness and ultimately building trust.

2. Proactive Category Collaboration

Category Development requires intentional effort to create a sustainable competitive advantage. The cyclical process has three critical inter-dependent competencies: category objectivity, insight and optimizing assortment. US suppliers who value these competencies are prepared to look beyond their own objectives, collaborating with their customers focusing first and foremost on shopper needs. This wider lens and genuine intent wins trust, builds partnership and strengthens customer engagement overall.

How to achieve growth in today’s environment is surely the single greatest preoccupation of both retailers and suppliers. This common goal has such power to unite if it is underpinned by the spirit of collaboration and a way to measure and manage progress of the critical competencies that fuel it.

Advantage Report provides the measures that matter to help retailers and suppliers be better together. Advantage is devoted to helping suppliers strengthen retailer engagement through data, insights, and action planning. Contact an Advantage Advisor today.


Explore Recent Blogs

View All
Featured Image
  • Community

Women In Conversation – Inspiring Change in the Workplace

August 30, 2023
Featured Image
  • Products

How Advantage Custom Solutions Can Elevate Your Engagement

August 24, 2023
Featured Image
  • Advantage Awards

Tesco Named Partner of Choice by Suppliers in Ireland According to Advantage Report

August 22, 2023

Advantage is devoted to helping your business strengthen engagement through data, insights, and action planning.

Contact Us

Company

  • Locations
  • Careers

Support

  • Help
  • Login
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Service

Headquarters

40 University Avenue, Suite 903 Toronto ON M5J 1T1

Subscribe to receive the latest updates

  • Advantage Group Youtube
  • Advantage Group Linkedin
  • Advantage Group Instagram
  • Advantage Group Pinterest

© 2023 Advantage Group International. All Rights Reserved.

Advantage uses cookies to improve the functionality and performance of this site. Do you consent to the use of cookies?

Accept Deny

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

Advantage Group
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!