It has long seemed to me that the obvious progression for multinational retailers should be that they source on a regional, rather than national basis.

The likes of Carrefour, Tesco and Ahold operate in so many different retail environments, yet they aim to standardise the layout and structure of their stores as much as possible. So why not standardise the offer within them as far as possible too?

If one retailer owns supermarkets in the UK, Croatia and Japan, for instance, and they all stock South African grapes, why not centralise the purchasing function and simplify the process through a set group of suppliers?

Of course, this happens to a certain extent already, albeit it usually on a fairly informal basis. And it rarely affects the UK market, as apart from Tesco, no UK-owned supermarket chain has much of a presence outside of our small island. But it could eventually affect UK suppliers who restrict their outlook to these shores.

Capespan is not the first grower/exporter to recognise the potential shift in sourcing patterns, but the decision to restructure internally should place it in a strong position as the trend does take hold.

No retailer will be able to simply replicate its approach on a global basis, but the think global, act local maxim will allow retail chains to get ever-closer to that utopia.

In this issue we feature two Tesco Ireland suppliers who have benefited from the decision taken by the UK’s number one to strengthen its relationships with local growers when expanding in Ireland. Some would doubtless say this decision was not entirely of Tesco’s making, but it was nevertheless the right one.

Different markets throw up different challenges and regulatory obstacles, but suppliers with the capacity to work on a truly multinational scale could well force themselves to the front of the retail queue.