Suppliers are being urged to give their view on retail relations in the 2023 Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) survey.
Direct and indirect suppliers to the 14 largest retailers have until February 26 to outline their experiences to adjudicator Mark White.
The survey is run by YouGov and covers a wide range of themes to help White establish if there are areas of concern in supermarket-supplier relations.
White stressed that suppliers should also speak freely and honestly to retailers when issues arrive, without fear of negative consequences. “I take this issue very seriously,” he added. “Each of the retailers has confirmed to me that they want to hear from suppliers and work collaboratively to resolve issues and strengthen relationships.
“To address supplier concerns, all 14 retailers have committed to ‘ensuring that suppliers do not face negative consequences as a result of raising issues with the business directly or with the CCO [code compliance officer].’
“This builds on the CCOs’ commitments to treat any discussion held with a supplier in the strictest of confidence unless the supplier agrees they can share details within the retailer.
“I hope that no suppliers will face this problem, but if suppliers do believe that raising code issues with a retailer has led to them facing negative consequences as a result, I want to hear from them. Suppliers can confidentially contact me at any time.”
Meanwhile White reported that Amazon UK has signed up to the voluntary commitment on forensic auditing and has confirmed that it is committed to achieving best practice in the UK.
And in people news, Alex Wood has been appointed as Aldi’s code compliance officer as of February.