The Board of Efficient Consumer Response Australasia (ECRA) has published a shelf-ready packaging (SRP) toolkit to standardise the manufacture and use of shelf-ready packaging across the retail industry.
Following an increase in demand for SRP in recent years from Coles and Woolworths, the ECRA board, comprised of senior industry executives including representatives from the major retailers, has developed a common set of industry guidelines to avoid different and contradictory standards emerging.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), secretariat of the ECRA, said conflicting guidelines would add unnecessary cost and complexity to the industry.
“We didn’t want Woolworths to have one set of guidelines and Coles another because of the undue cost and pressure it could put on manufacturers,” AFGC assistant director (supply chain) Samantha Blake said.
“They could then be providing the same product to both retailers but packing the product into different formats, which would defeat the purpose of SRP being efficient.”
Published as the Retail Ready Packaging — A focus on shelf ready packaging: An Industry Toolkit, it outlines the guiding principles, functional requirements, business case frameworks, and packaging options and guidelines that need to be considered by retailers and their trading partners when implementing SRP.
The toolkit outlines the technical and practical aspects of SRP, from what are considered as acceptable coding and labelling procedures to how best to ensure supply chain effectiveness and efficiency.
Rather than prescribing solutions, the toolkit outlines a variety of issues for consideration and negotiation by retailers and manufacturers such as storage and handling, occupational health and safety, sustainability, cost, shelf filling efficiency and product identification.
“Although we have these guidelines, there is still the requirement for manufacturers to work through and adopt, individually, with both retailers, an acceptable packaging solution,” Blake said.
“The new guidelines bring a structure to the way retailers can approach SRP and a structure for manufacturers in terms of what they need to consider to find a solution that will suit both them and its trading partners.”
Woolworths, which began implementing SRP in 2005 and now has over 3000 stock keeping units (SKUs) in this packaging format, said SRP enhances product presentation and on-shelf presence, and improves efficiency, in-store costs and on-shelf availability.
“By improving the on-shelf replenishment of products and simplifying product selection through distinguishing flavour variations, SRP enables us to deliver a better service to our customers,” Woolworths spokesperson Clare Buchanan said.
Woolworths sees the development of SRP common guidelines as fundamental to its effectiveness.
The ECRA recommends the toolkit be reviewed in six months so it can be developed into a more useful and practical tool for industry.
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