IFPA Advantage Fresh Produce Engagement Program to help fresh produce suppliers better understand relationships with major Australian retail customers
The International Fresh Produce Association Australia-New Zealand (IFPA A-NZ) has announced a world-first collaboration with Advantage Group International to deliver independent, data-driven insight designed to help fresh produce and floral suppliers better understand and strengthen their relationships with major Australian retail customers.
Retail-supplier relationships in fresh produce and floral are fundamental to both day-to-day execution and long-term success. This new IFPA Advantage Fresh Produce Engagement Program has been uniquely developed to unlock deep relationship intelligence to the sector.
The programme provides objective data, benchmarked against peer companies, offering insights that help individual businesses prioritise action while supporting improved engagement standards across the industry.
Advantage Group International is a global leader in business-to-business engagement and relationship benchmarking, operating in over 50 countries.
This new programme applies decades of B2B and FMCG expertise to the unique operating environment of fresh produce and floral.
“We know from a number of global studies that organisations which are good at engaging with trading partners, better at building productive relationships than their competitors, are significantly more likely to outperform those competitors commercially both in terms of market share and growth,” said Advantage Group International managing director ANZ, Steve Andrews. “The IFPA Advantage Fresh Produce Engagement Program will review the way suppliers engage across functions and seniority including supply chain, category management, commercial capability, ease of doing business and communication, all of which contribute to building high levels of trust.”
The programme provides both quantitative and qualitative insight, enabling suppliers to better understand areas of strength and opportunity in ways that create value for both parties.
IFPA A-NZ managing director Belinda Wilson said the programme had been developed to support more effective, transparent engagement between suppliers and retailers.
“It’s easy to assess a relationship based on one person’s experience,” Wilson said.
“The challenge is understanding how a supplier is engaging across the organisation, across differing roles, and over time. This program sets a consistent framework to assess the full relationship and to understand performance in the context of the broader market.
“It gives participating members clarity on how they engage with retail customers across multiple touchpoints and functions,” she added.
“By objectively measuring performance relative to a peer group, you can assess and create behaviours and capability within your team to build the culture you want as a customer-centric supplier.”
IFPA A-NZ will host a webinar on 22 April to introduce the programme and outline how retailer feedback is gathered and analysed, how insights are tailored to individual participants, and the use of benchmarked insights can be used to prioritise action and strengthen trade with retail partners.
