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Published: October 3, 2022

“Trust emerges when we have a sense that another person or organisation is driven by things other than their self-gain.” – Simon Sinek

A significant and standout competency within Advantage Report is builds trust. With this metric, retailers and suppliers are rated against companies within the benchmark on the extent to which they are viewed as a trusted business partner. This is a powerful metric on its own. However, it’s not independent of other competency performance within the Advantage Engagement Framework.

Table 1: Advantage Report South Africa Voice of the Retailer three-year trend average of supplier scores (Net Favourability) in the Core Supplier Benchmark Set
Table 1: Advantage Report South Africa Voice of the Retailer three-year trend average of supplier scores (Net Favourability) in the Core Supplier Benchmark Set

Interestingly, over the past three years, South African supplier trust scores have been on a steady upward curve, increasing by over 40% in average Net Favourability in the Core Benchmark set. This points towards a few drivers, including:

1. Pandemic response: South African suppliers and retailers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in different manners, with overall levels of engagement across the industry increasing. The crisis brought out the best in collaboration, as all players leant in, increasing communication and engagement in response to supply chain and compliance challenges.

2. Unprecedented civil unrest: While the rioting and looting experience was heightened in KZN, the impact on retailers and suppliers was significant. Trust and engagement continued to improve following increases in 2020. This collaboration served as a positive signal of working culture and behaviours in South Africa as companies responded with agility to “make a plan” to work better together.

What’s Next? Crisis Fatigue in 2022

Significant local and global supply chain impacts, COVID-19 regulations, rioting and looting, and ongoing social and economic challenges paint a backdrop of a consistently complex and difficult trading environment in South Africa. The demand for suppliers and retailers to deploy constant crisis management is resulting in fatigue. As a result, communication and engagement levels are challenging to sustain. We predict a plateau or slight decline in overall engagement and trust scores in 2022.

“The post-crisis world has made us sit up and realise that the way in which we do business, the language we engage and collaborate and plan with our suppliers is really different and has changed significantly. We have to become more collaborative as trading partners”

South African Retailer

Navigating the evolving retailer-supplier landscape in South Africa requires objectivity, data and analysis. Trust in Advantage Report to guide you through the complexities of strengthening business partner engagement today. Connect with an Advantage Advisor in South Africa.