AIM, the European Brands Association, which represents 2,500 manufacturers of branded consumer goods, commissioned ZLC to research these supply chain relationships, with a focus on logistics distribution-related collaboration processes. Carolina Puentes and Irene Villalobos, for their Masters thesis, carried out a survey among brands, members of AIM, during 2018, with some interesting results.
The survey, across 21 countries, received 200 usable responses, covering relationships between 66 brand manufacturers and 115 retailers, including e-tailers in five countries. (To meet statistical and data protection protocols, responses from at least 5 brands, or 7 for Germany, were required per retailer and per question).
Responses were analysed in three ways. A country by country view across all retailers was taken. Secondly, responses relating to six major retailers were analysed separately – these being four ‘conventional’, ie largely ‘bricks n’ mortar’ retailers: Auchan, Carrefour, Tesco, and Metro; Lidl, representing the ‘no frills discounter’ style; and to represent e-tailing, Amazon operations across five countries. Finally, extra questions and analysis were applied to the e-tailers in isolation.
