Fresh produce, and particularly onions, lead the pack when it comes to availability, a survey has shown.
The ECR On-shelf availability survey, which studies retailer availability from a consumer perspective, showed that onions were the top perfoming line of the year, being on shelf 100 per cent of the time.
The rest of the produce category also performed well with an average of 98 per cent availability throughout the year.
The range of retailer performance narrowed in the final quarter of the year with the best performing retailer achieving 97.2 per cent across all categories, and the worst performing 95 per cent.
A new measure in the final quarter found that the best day in terms of on-shelf availability is Saturday (97 per cent) and the worst is Tuesday (96 per cent).
Chris Tyas, supply chain director, Nestle and ECR UK Availability Workgroup co-Chair, says; “At the end of the first year of the survey the overall trend is that we are getting better at on-shelf availability as an industry.
“We have seen a consistent performance in standard product availability and the gap between best and worst has narrowed. We hope that this picture will continue through 2005 and that we can address the seasonal issues.”
Martin Oakes, group logistics director, Somerfield and ECR UK Availability Workgroup co-Chair said “The overall results are encouraging but Christmas specials highlighted that the industry should be focussing further on seasonal availability.
“Seasonal events are now key in the industry calendar and customers expect the products they want available at these times.”
