Shrinkage Group honoured at The ECR Europe Awards 2014

The Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group, supported by Checkpoint Systems, the merchandise availability solutions supplier for the retail industry has been honoured with a prestigious award at The ECR Europe Awards, held at the Annual ECR European Leaders Forum in Brussels.

The special ECR award, which was introduced to this year’s event to celebrate the work of the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group and its achievements, recognises the positive impact the Group has had on the industry. Presenting the award on the night, Thomas Hübner, Executive Director for Europe, Carrefour and Jan Zijderzeld, President, Unilever Europe paid tribute to the hard work of its members and the instrumental role the Group has had in improving industry knowledge and understanding on a wide range of retail loss related issues.

As one of the ECR’s most successful and long-standing programmes, the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group is credited with saving European retailers and manufacturers over €1.3 billion through the adoption of a new approach to managing loss prevention, characterised by developing best practice processes to improve customer satisfaction and retail profitability.

In the 15 years since its inception, the Group has overseen and developed a number of research projects, providing retailers and manufacturers with tools and techniques to enhance loss prevention strategies. These focus on a range of topics led by members including shrinkage, self-scan check-outs, RFID and the role of technology. The Group received support from leading academic experts from the University of Leicester and the Cranfield School of Management.

Colin Peacock, ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group co-chair and Director, Shrink & Store Operations Improvement, Procter & Gamble, said: “The ECR Shrinkage Group’s commitment over the years has been focused on improving collaboration between retailers and manufacturers in order to address the challenge of total loss and discover new ways to reduce its impact on retail profitability. We are delighted that the Group’s research and results are being recognised with this special ECR award.”

John Fonteijn, Fellow co-chair and Head of Group Asset Protection at ROYAL AHOLD, added: “Being recognised by the ECR means that we’re getting our message across to the wider retail industry and not just loss prevention (LP) professionals. We know that loss prevention is not just the responsibility of dedicated LP staff, it requires a commitment from the whole organization so it is a real honour for us and for all the members of the Group to receive this award”.

Neil Matthews, Vice President, Global Product Management, Checkpoint Systems UK, added: “We are proud to support the ECR Shrink & On-Shelf Availability Group and be a part of the successful impact the Group is having on the European retail industry. We are very much looking forward to continuing to help the Group as it endeavors to understand and minimise the impact of total loss for the benefit of manufacturers, retailers and ultimately, consumers.”

The ECR Leaders’ Forum also celebrated and recognised the hard work of ECR members across three categories, including ECR Achievement Award, Best ECR Activation Award and finally, Young Leaders Award 2014. Waitrose and Diageo took home the Best Activation Award for special excellence on ECR collaboration for its programme ‘mentoring across customer-supplier boundaries’. The Young Leader’s Award went to Tony Holmberg of ICA for his driving role in the recent module of the ECR LaB Programme. Nikos Veropoulous, CEO of Veropoulous Bros was awarded the ECR Achievement Award for his unwavering commitment to the ECR Europe and the principles of collaboration.