Efficient Consumer Response: from Theory to Implementation in Grocery Industry in Italy

The Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) project is involved with the study, diffusion and application of co-ordination and integration methods that can be used between Brand Name Producers (BNP) and Large Scale Retailers (LSR) in the grocery industry. This work aims to analyse to what extent ECR has been applied in Italy through a study of four cases where its principles have been brought into action by the Logistics Management of the PAM Group. The PAM Group is one of the most important Italian LSRs. The results highlight the fact that, with ECR, it is possible both to cut logistics costs and to optimise processes, but they also reveal just how complex the ECR approach is, given the multiplicity of interests, objectives and of the ways in which the relationships between the different partners (producers, retailers and carriers), have developed and become established over the years.