Which consumer packaged goods and food-oriented retailers have the best supply chains for 2010?

Each year, SCDigest reports on the annual survey results from Kantar Retail (which acquired Cannondale Associates, the prior authors of the study, about a year ago), which ranks the top consumer packaged goods industry supply chains and the top retail supply chains in the retail segments that sell those packaged goods product lines.

The full Kantar survey and report, which it calls its PowerRanking, was just released for 2010, and covers a number of company performance measures for both consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, including such areas as brand power, marketing programs, sales teams, overall business fundamentals, etc. Supply chain management is one of those categories included in the survey.

The rankings for this year, as always, were developed through the interesting methodology of asking retailers to rate manufacturers on each of these categories, and manufacturers to rank retailers on a similar set of attributes.

Both manufacturers and retailers are from the consumer packaged goods, food and beverage areas. That means manufacturers in such categories as apparel/soft goods, electronics, hard goods, etc. are not included. Similarly, the participating retailers are drawn exclusively from sectors such as mass merchandise, traditional grocery, warehouse clubs, and drug store chains that focus on consumer packaged goods sales.

Last week, we reported on the top rated consumer packaged goods supply chains, where Procter & Gamble once again came out on top, though down in absolute ratings just a bit, while Unilever and Heinz made strong moves. See Top Consumer Packaged Goods Supply Chains for 2010.

This week, we look at the top retail supply chains in the segments listed above as rated by over 70 manufacturers across most food/beverage/CPG categories. Respondents included Clorox, ConAgra, Wyeth, Anheuser-Busch, Perdue Farms, Alberto-Culver and dozens of others.

(Supply Chain Trends and Issues Article - Continued Below)

As shown in the chart below taken from the 2010 report, WalMart again topped the list, as it has for many years, although its percentage ranking dropped for 2010 by a little over two points. The percentages are calculated by the number of retail respondents which rank a given retailer as having one of the top three supply chains in the industry. So, this means for example that 8% of manufacturer respondents did not put WalMart in their top three retail supply chains.

Kroger, continuing a strong run of several years, jumped 4.7 percentage points and moved into the number 2 position from number 4 in 2009.

"Kroger focuses on shelf discipline, back room operational costs and overall supply chain with display ready case pack initiatives and innovative warehouse management,” one respondent said.

Safeway also made a nice gain, up 2.5 percentage points.

Perhaps surprisingly, Costco and Publix, which both have reputations for quality supply chains, took hits in 2010, down 4.2 and 7.9 percentage points respectively.

Last year, the list actually featured 11 companies, as there was a tie for 1oth place. This year, Meijer fell out of the top 10.

Source: Kantar Retail PoweRanking 2010

"Those retailers that demonstrate fair but regimented rules or retailers that are emphasizing automation as part of their overall supply chain process fared well in this evaluation," the Kantar report says. "Those retailers who demonstrated inflexibility or an inability to work closely with manufacturers for a common objective of reducing out of stocks or improving logistics have been more challenged – particularly in 2010 given the economic situation."

What’s your reaction to this year’s Kantar Retailer supply chain rankings? Think any of the rankings are out of whack? What are the key attributes of a world class retail retail supply chain? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button below.

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