Research paper Efcient consumer response (ECR): a survey of the Australian grocery industry

John K. Harris Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

Introduction
Efcient consumer response (ECR) originated in the USA in 1992 as a direct result of threats from alternative store formats (or types) and their supply chains (McKinsey & Co. 1992) which highlighted major inefciencies within the supermarket and its supply chain (Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993). In order to survive, the US grocery industry leaders took an initiative to study how to improve the performance of the supermarket supply chains in 1992. As a result of their study, the ECR initiative was established, and the term efcient consumer response (ECR) was rst introduced at the US Food Marketing Institute Conference in January 1993 (Robins, 1994). This ECR initiative is concerned with transforming the grocery supply chain from a push system to a pull system where trading partners form new alliance relationships and the replenishment of store products is initiated by the point of sale (PoS) data. The concept on which ECR is based actually originated from the quick response (QR) strategy, already existing in the textile and apparel industries (Cooke, 1994; Fiorito et al., 1995). QR, in turn, is based on the manufacturing just-in-time (JIT) concept (Ellram et al., 1989; Fiorito et al., 1995; Knill, 1990). The JIT concept was simple: to deliver raw material to production areas in the exact required amount at the precise time it was needed. The use of raw material pulls new raw material into the production process. During the mid-1980s the JIT manufacturing concept was applied to the US textile and apparel industries in an attempt to combat market penetration by overseas manufacturers. This textile and apparel industries initiative was termed quick response and attempted to reduce the amount of inventory held within the apparel supply chain. Quick response required the retailer to share point-of-salescanned data with manufacturers to improve the ow of product through the supply chain. The grocery industry noted the success of the quick response approach to managing supply chain data and proposed a similar stock replenishment system called ECR (Cooke, 1994; Ellram et al., 1989; Fiorito et al., 1995). Although ECR originated in the USA, the concept has attracted many European countries and Australia. Research papers published in the last few years suggest that 35

The authors John K. Harris is an Analyst at Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Paula M.C. Swatman is the Director of the Interactive Information Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Sherah Kurnia is a PhD candidate at the School of Information Management and Systems, Monash University, Australia. Keywords Alliances, Australia, Channel relations, Grocery, Process efciency, Supply-chain management Abstract Efcient consumer response (ECR) is a supply chain management strategy which attempts to address the inefciencies that have led to excessive inventory and unnecessary costs at all levels within the grocery industry supply chain. Although originating in the USA, ECR has also attracted attention and interest in many other countries. This paper presents the results of an Australian study which was designed to assess the applicability of ECR within the Australian grocery industry. The results of the study indicate that the inefcient business practices of the US supply chain are also prevalent within the Australian grocery industry and that some Australian companies had already begun to engage in business activities related to ECR as early as 1996.

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 pp. 3542 MCB University Press ISSN 1359-8546

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

there has been an increasing level of interest among European manufacturers and retailers in the ECR initiative (Coopers & Lybrand, 1997; Coupe, 1995; Kurnia et al., 1998; Leggett, 1996; Peck, 1997; Wheatley, 1996). The importance and applicability of ECR to the European grocery industry became more noticeable in 1994 with the establishment of the ECR Europe Executive Board, which promotes and advances the ECR initiative in Europe (Davies, 1997; Penman, 1997). In Australia, however, very little research has been conducted regarding the applicability of the ECR initiative. At the beginning of this study, only one industry study (conducted by Coopers & Lybrand in 1995) could be found, the results of which indicated that ECR would be effective in improving the state of the Australian grocery industry.

and retailers need to adopt a category management strategy (Kurnia et al., 1998; Pramataris et al., 1997). (b) Efcient promotion The efcient promotion initiative aims at maximising the total system efciency of trade and consumer promotions. Efcient promotion attempts to eliminate inefcient trade promotions (forward buying and diverting) by introducing better alternative trade promotions such as pay for performance and forward commit: pay for performance is concerned with rewarding retailers on the basis of how many products they sell to consumers, rather than how many products they buy from manufacturers (Washburn, 1995); forward commit relates to spreading the actual shipment of one order over several physical deliveries. This allows retailers to take the pricing benets offered by manufacturers at a particular period in time (just as in the case of forward buying), without having to carry the inventory. In essence, this technique operates on virtual inventory which will be transformed into real inventory when required (Martin, 1994). The use of paper-based coupons as a consumer promotion technique can be replaced with electronic coupons, frequent shopper systems, every day low price (EDLP) policies and other efcient incentive programmes. Thus, the efcient promotion initiative endeavours to remove excessive costs by reengineering promotion practices, and is also supported by the category management strategy (Kurnia et al., 1998; Pramataris et al., 1997). (c) Efcient product introduction The objective of the new product introduction initiative is to maximise the effectiveness of new product development and introduction activities in order to reduce costs and failure rates in introducing new products (Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993). This is achieved by the involvement of wholesalers/distributors, retailers and consumers at an early stage of the new product development process. Manufacturers, distributors and retailers must work together as allies to reduce the costs of product development and to produce only products anticipated and demanded by the consumer marketplace (Tripplet, 1994). Once again, the category management 36

ECR as a collaborative solution to adversarial trading

ECR calls for the creation of a timely, accurate and paperless ow of information relying heavily on electronic data interchange (EDI) and strategic alliances between supply chain members (Fiorito et al., 1995; Sansolo, 1993). The goal of ECR is to take out of the supply chain costs which do not add consumer value (Robins, 1994). ECR is about producing efciencies in the grocery supply chain within the four core business process areas of efcient store assortment, efcient replenishment, efcient promotions and efcient product introductions (Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993). ECR Initiatives (a) Efcient store assortment The objective of this initiative is to optimise the productivity of inventory and shelf management at the consumer interface the store level. Optimal allocation of goods on supermarket shelves (known as store assortment) maximises consumer satisfaction by providing the best products and services while, at the same time, ensuring the most efcient use of available space to increase manufacturer, distributor and retailer protability. The relationship between manufacturers, distributors and retailers is crucial in achieving efcient store assortment (Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993; Wood, 1996). To streamline business practices in the area of store assortment, manufacturers, distributors

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

strategy plays a crucial role in achieving this initiative, because of its contribution to an understanding of successful existing products (Kurnia et al., 1998; Pramataris et al., 1997). (d) Efcient product replenishment The efcient product replenishment initiative is the fundamental platform which supports the overall ECR strategy and it represents more than half the total savings projected from ECR implementation within the US grocery industry (Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993). The objective of this initiative is to optimise time and cost in the replenishment system by the provision of the right product to the right place at the right time in the right quantity and in the most efcient manner possible. In order to remove inefciencies in product replenishment (for example, high inventory levels and carrying costs and sporadic manufacturing schedules), a continuous replenishment program (CRP) approach is required (Kurnia et al., 1998; Pramataris et al., 1997). ECR business activities To achieve these four efciencies, ECR requires the following major business activities or initiatives (De Roulet, 1993): category management; continuous replenishment programme (CRP); computer assisted ordering (CAO); ow-through distribution (cross-docking); integrated electronic data interchange (EDI); activity-based costing (ABC). (a) Category management The term category management rst appeared in 1987 (Smith, 1993) when certain organisations, such as Procter & Gamble (Mathews, 1995), began moving from brand management to management by category. Category management has evolved to mean a process that involves managing product categories as business units and customising them on a store-by-store basis to satisfy consumer demands (Gnau et al., 1992). A category is a group of products having a common consumer end use (Hoer, 1996) and includes such things as household cleaners, dairy and frozen foods, paper products, health and beauty care products, soft drinks, etc. Category management allows the category manager to operate a category like a business so as to identify optimal 37

product mix; and to stock each store with specic products that demographic and pointof-sale (PoS) information indicates customers wish to purchase. Category management is supported by EDI and barcode applications (Kurnia et al., 1998). (b) Continuous replenishment programme (CRP) Continuous replenishment, usually managed by the manufacturer, is a programme used to control and monitor the movement of goods from the manufacturer to the warehouse/ distributor (Garry, 1994c). CRP involves the manufacturer (rather than the retailers warehouse) taking responsibility for replenishing the warehouse inventory, with the buyer supplying actual warehouse inventory withdrawal data and data on stock-keeping units (individual line items) to the manufacturer (Cross, 1993). CRP programmes reduce costs in distributors inventory, but can increase some costs, such as transportation costs, if the manufacturer ships smaller truck loads more frequently (Garry, 1994b). Successful CRP implementation is dependent on effective trade relations, requiring shared business practices and information systems which rely heavily on EDI. (c) Computer-assisted ordering (CAO) Computer-assisted ordering, also known as computer-aided ordering (Fensholt, 1992; Garry, 1992; Thayer, 1991; Weinstein, 1995), covers the second half of the overall inventory supply chain the movement of goods from the warehouse/distribution centre to the retail store. The aim of CAO is to generate store replenishment orders automatically, with minimal management intervention, based on such things as current and historical PoS scan data, delivery data and sales forecasts. The benets of CAO have been identied as labour savings and dependability, warehouse and shipping improvements, and inventory reduction (Garry, 1994c). Traditionally, stores have based their orders on the re-order clerk manually inspecting the store shelves and scanning the shelf-tag barcodes for those items with limited stock on the shelf (Anderson, 1996). The re-order amount entered by the clerk is based on the actual shelf amount and the ideal shelf quantity. The re-order clerk is not in a position to take into account PoS data, inventory which has already been scheduled for delivery, or likely future trends based on forecasting. Integrated CAO systems are designed to minimise (and even eliminate) these problems.

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

(d) Flow-through distribution (cross-docking) According to Garry (1994a) the purpose of ow-through distribution is to hasten the ow of products from the supplier to the retail store by reducing storage and handling of products at the distribution centre or warehouse. It involves the breaking down of pallets at the distribution centre, reassembling them for store delivery and then shipping them to the retail store without ever storing the product in the warehouse. This requires signicant investment in technologies such as EDI, barcoding and scanning of pallets and cases; and warehouse design changes such as lower ceilings and less racking. The key EDI transaction required for cross-docking is the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN), to inform the distributor of the merchandise that is about to arrive. The automation of the warehouse inventory management system using barcodes means that inaccuracies can be eliminated. (e) Integrated electronic data interchange (EDI) EDI is the computer-application to computer-application communication of structured, formatted messages based on international standards, using electronic transmission media with no manual intervention (Brawn, 1989; Swatman, 1993). EDI is a technology which allows structured information to be shared among organisations in the supply chain resulting in signicant reductions in transaction costs and enabling the organisations to adopt new and more effective and efcient business strategies (Emmelhainz, 1990; Gilmour, 1993; Klima, 1993; Spence, 1994), such as ECR. EDI is viewed as the essential effective enabler of the ECR management strategy because it focuses on achieving integration across organisational functions and between organisations (Swatman, 1993) in the grocery supply chain. (f) Activity-based costing (ABC) Activity-based costing provides the cost and operating information necessary to support innovative management improvement initiatives such as ECR. The focus of ABC is on accurate information about the true cost of products, services, processes, activities, distribution channels, customer segments, contracts and projects (Miller, 1996). ABC supplies information about prots (where the money is being made) rather than about costs. Traditional accounting systems use gross margin calculations that spread operating 38

costs across all products based on unit purchase price regardless of the actual value chain (Porter, 1985) through which the product passes. ABC focuses managements attention on controlling the source of costs, decisions that create activities, rather than squeezing budgets. Therefore ABC as part of ECR can increase the protability of the supply chain by removing or reducing those cost activities that do not add value. This cannot be done with traditional systems because they do not reect costs accurately (Weinstein, 1993).

Australian ECR survey

At the start of this research project, little US and almost no Australian research into ECR could be discovered. We identied three academic research projects on ECR or continuous replenishment (Clark, 1994; Hoban, 1993; Mathews, 1995) in the USA and in Australia we found only a single industry report undertaken for the Grocery Manufacturers of Australia by Coopers & Lybrand in 1995. We therefore decided to commence the overall research project (which involves a number of researchers and is expected to take several years) by investigating Australian attitudes to ECR and existing practices by members of the grocery industry in this country an investigation which we believed was most appropriately addressed by means of a mail survey. Participants were chosen from organisations within the Australian grocery industry (members of the grocery supply chain). The questionnaire was posted to the most senior executive of 1,500 companies within the Australian grocery industry, whose mailing lists were obtained from grocery industry journals (Retail World Pty Ltd, 1995; White et al., 1995); and an effective response rate of 30 per cent, or 450 organisations, was obtained after two mailouts of the questionnaire. The survey was administered between June and October 1996. The research question under examination was can Australian grocery industry supply chain members benet from the efcient consumer response supply chain management strategy? Industry supply chain members were surveyed to: determine the extent of inefcient business practices;

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

identify the current use of business activities (supply chain initiatives) necessary for the adoption of the ECR strategy; identify those organisations that are aware of the ECR strategy to discover whether their organisation (and the supply chain as a whole) can benet from the ECR strategy; determine the reasons for adopting ECR by those organisations which have decided to pursue such a strategy. Inefcient business practices Figure 1 shows that diverting is little used within the Australian grocery industry, as just 17 per cent of survey respondents indicated that they use some form of diverting, and only 2 per cent stated that they used this practice the majority of the time. Deal selling/buying which results in forward buying, however, is prevalent within Australia and, as a result, there are likely to be excessive inventory holdings throughout the Australian grocery supply chain. Despite the greater than optimal inventory holdings, these gures suggest that inefcient promotional activities are used to a much lesser extent than in the USA and are therefore far less important as a motivator for ECR in this country. ECR business activities Figure 2 illustrates the various ECR initiatives and shows that category management (59 per cent) and EDI (49 per cent) have the greatest number of respondents committed to their implementation, while cross-docking (19 per cent) and continuous replenishment (23 per cent) have the smallest number. Even though category management is more widely used than the other initiatives, only 10 per cent of

respondents are committed to the implementation of this business activity as part of their ECR strategy (indicated as Committed to Implementation (ECR) in Figure 2), while the rest are using category management independently (indicated as Committed to Implementation in Figure 2). EDI (17.1 per cent) implementation as part of an ECR strategy has by far the greatest commitment in terms of ECR strategy, while activity-based costing (4 per cent) and cross-docking (5 per cent) have the lowest respondent commitment as part of their ECR strategy. These results suggest that, although Australian grocery industry members are actively engaged in a number of the ECR initiatives, they view each activity on its own merit and have, thus far at least, shown little interest in integrating their improved supply chain management practices into an holistic ECR approach. ECR awareness Table I shows that just over two-thirds (61 per cent) of respondents were previously aware of the ECR strategy, while another third (34 per cent) were unaware of ECR before receiving this survey. Two-thirds of the group of aware organisations are actively engaged in pursuing an ECR strategy and, in Table II, we have summarised the reasons why these respondents are actively pursuing this strategy. This list makes it clear that the threat from alternative store formats which motivates so many US supermarkets is of little importance to Australian grocery industry members. Figure 3 summarises respondents views of the likely benets of ECR to the Australian grocery industry and shows that the majority of those respondents who are aware of ECR

Figure 1 Inefcient business practices within the Australian grocery industry

100% Percent of Respondents 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Deal Selling/Buying Key Some Form Majority of the Time
21% 17% 10% 2% 55% 42% 91% 73%

Forward Buying

Diverting

Promotional Activities

Supply Chain Practice

39

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

Figure 2 ECR-related business activities within the Australian grocery industry

100% Percent of Respondents 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%
17% 10% 8% 4% 59% 49% 34% 23% 29% 19% 5% 10%

electronic data interchange Key

computer assisted ordering

continuous replenishment

activitybased costing

crossdocking

category management

ECR related Business Activity Committed to Implementation Committed to Implementation (ECR)

Table I Respondents ECR status

ECR status Not aware of ECR Aware of ECR: actively pursuing ECR not actively pursuing ECR unknown if actively pursuing Other

Percentage 34 61 40 16 5 5

believe the Australian grocery supply chain can gain signicant benet from ECR in terms of improved efciency (76 per cent) and reduced costs (61 per cent); and that the respondents own organisation can benet (61 per cent) from pursuing an ECR strategy. Of the total group of respondents, 47 per cent believe that ECR will improve the efciency of the grocery supply chain, while 37 per cent of all respondents believe that ECR will remove costs from the supply chain and also benet their own organisation.

Table II Reasons for actively pursuing an ECR strategy

Reason Improve efciency of your organisation Pressure from trading partner(s) Cost savings to your organisation Improve efciency of overall supply chain Cost savings to overall supply chain Threats from alternative store formats Other

Percentage 60 46 45 45 33 8 6

Discussion and conclusions

Our research into ECR within Australia provides very strong evidence in two areas: (1) that the inefcient business practices of deal selling/buying and forward buying (Figure 1), which push excessive inventory into the supply chain, exist within the Australian grocery industry although not

Figure 3 Opinions as to the likely benets of ECR in Australia

100% Percent of Respondents 80% 60%
47% 76% 61% 61%

40% 20% 0% Improve efficiency of supply Chain Key ECR aware respondents (61%) All Respondents (100%)

37%

37%

Remove costs from supply chain Respondent ECR Opinion

Benefit respondents organisation

40

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

necessarily to the same extent as in the USA. (2) That Australian organisations have begun implementing business activities and initiatives that are essential for the adoption of the ECR strategy. These results suggest that the Australian grocery industry is a push system, like the USA, where inventory is continually pushed into the supply chain by supplier deals, which in turn lead to forward buying by customers. There is considerable interest in ECR in Australia, with 61 per cent of respondents being aware of ECR and 40 per cent of respondents actively pursuing an ECR strategy (Table I). Despite this interest in ECR, we believe that there is no real commitment to its implementation. This is borne out by the fact that while 40 per cent of respondents are actively pursuing an ECR strategy (Table I) only 17 per cent (EDI) and 4 per cent (ABC) respectively of respondents are actually committed to the implementation of the essential business activities (Figure 2) necessary for the successful implementation of ECR. A review of the Australian grocery industry (Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia, 1991) identied inefciencies within the Australian grocery industry which ECR seeks to address. This review identied threats from alternative store formats which were likely to have an adverse effect on the traditional grocery store, the supermarket. Given the ndings of this review, we nd it somewhat surprising that respondents to our survey did not indicate threats from alternative store formats as a main reason for adopting ECR, and that there is not a stronger commitment to implement the necessary ECR business activities/initiatives. One of the main reasons given for adopting ECR is pressure from trading partners (Table II). These results, which differ signicantly from the (comparatively limited) evidence available from the USA, suggest that the Australian motive for engaging in ECR may well be quite different. Indeed, the likelihood is that Australian grocery industry members appear to be encouraged to engage in ECR by large and powerful customers (supermarkets) a situation which is reminiscent of the Australian experience with EDI. There is thus a real danger that, as with EDI, organisations may become involved only to the extent required by their larger and more 41

powerful trading partners, so that the full benets of a strategic approach may be lost. The survey reported in this paper provides the rst hard evidence of Australian ECR activities and attitudes. One thing which has become clear from the results is that, as with all surveys (which provide a snapshot of a respondent group at a point in time) we have made some fascinating discoveries, but opened up some even more intriguing possibilities which the data cannot answer satisfactorily. The next step is clearly to engage in case studies of Australian and overseas organisations involved in ECR to discover whether our suspicions about the motivations for ECR involvement are correct. This project is being undertaken by another member of the Monash Electronic Commerce Research Group and our serendipitous discovery that the member nations of the European Union have nominated ECR as a major area of interest for the next few years encourages us to hope for an enthusiastic response from prospective case study participants.

References
Anderson, B. (1996), The Art and Science of Computer Assisted Ordering: Methods for Management, Quorum Books, Westport, CT. Brawn, D. (1989), EDI Developments Abroad and How They Impact Australia, IDC Conference, EDI The key to Protability in the 1990s, IDC Conferences, Sydney. Clark, T. (1994), Linking the grocery channel: technological innovation, organizational transformation, and channel performance, PhD thesis, Harvard University. Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia (1991), Grocery Industry Review: June 1991, St Leonards, Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia. Cooke, J. (1994), Logistics quality: part III beyond quality speed, Trafc Management, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 32-7. Coopers & Lybrand (1997), Efcient consumer response Europe: value chain analysis project overview, http://www.coopers.co.uk/managementconsulting/ ecr/. Coupe, K. (1995), Innovation is the key, Progressive Grocer, January, pp. 29-33. Cross, G.J. (1993), Continuous replenishment planning: an untapped gold mine, Transportation and Distribution, December, Vol. 34 No. 12, p. 49. Davies, M. (1997), Shifting into high gear, Director, Vol. 50, pp. 46-51. De Roulet, D.G. (1993), ECR: better information cuts costs, Transportation & Distribution, Vol. 34 No. 10, p. 63. Ellram, L.M., La Londe, B.J. and Weber, M.M. (1989), Retail logistics, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Materials Management, Vol. 19 No. 12, pp. 29-39.

Efcient consumer response (ECR)

Supply Chain Management Volume 4 Number 1 1999 3542

John K. Harris, Paula M.C. Swatman and Sherah Kurnia

Emmelhainz, M. (1990), Electronic Data Interchange: A Total Management Guide, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY. Fensholt, C. (1992), Presenting the 1992 Supermarket Business Award for Excellence to Shaws Supermarkets, Inc., Supermarket Business, Vol. 47 No. 12, pp. 23-5, 81. Fiorito, S.S., May, E.G. and Straughn, K. (1995), Quick response in retailing: components and implementation, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 12-21. Garry, M. (1992), Hows your scan data?, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 71 No. 10, pp. 83-90. Garry, M. (1994a). A blueprint of the future, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 73 No. 10, pp. 63-6. Garry, M. (1994b), Is there life after CRP?, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 73 No. 9, pp. 73-8. Garry, M. (1994c), The stepping stone to ECR, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 73 No. 6, pp. 59-60. Gilmour, P. (1993), Integrated logistics management, in Gilmour, P. and Lansbury, R. (Eds), Logistics Management: An Australian Framework, Longman Cheshire, London, pp. 3-51. Gnau, K., Richardson, T. and Dippold, J. (1992), Nielson Category Management: Positioning Your Organisation to Win, NTC Business Books/American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL. Hoban, T. (1993), Efcient consumer response (ECR): perceived barriers and opportunities, PhD thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh. Hoer, R. (1996), Glossary of Grocery Industry Terms, Progressive Grocer Associates, Stamford. Klima, G. (1993), EDI at supervalu Past - Present Future, The 6th International Conference Electronic Data Interchange & Interorganizational Systems, Bled, Slovenia. Knill, B. (1990), Quick response: now for the hard part, Material Handling Engineering, Vol. 45 No. 3, pp. 67-78. Kurnia, S., Schauder, D. and Swatman, P.M.C. (1998), Efcient Consumer Response: A Preliminary Comparison of US and European Experiences, The 11th International Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, Slovenia. Kurt Salmon Associates (1993), Efcient consumer response: enhancing consumer value in the grocery industry, American Meat Institute, Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers of America, National Food Brokers Association, Uniform Code Council. Leggett, D. (1996), I know what I wantand I want It now, Marketing, pp. 20-1.

McKinsey & Co. (1992), Evaluating the Impact of Alternative Store Formats, Supermarket Industry Convention, Food Marketing Institute, Chicago, IL. Martin, A. (1994), Infopartnering, Oliver Wight Publications, Inc. Mathews, R. (1995), The power of category management, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 74 No. 8, pp. 12-14. Miller, J. (1996), Implementing Activity-Based Management in Daily Operations, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Peck, F. (1997), Retailing logistics all change at the checkout, Logistics Focus, Vol. 5, pp. 14-15. Penman, I. (1997), Efcient unit load, Logistics Focus, Vol. 5, pp. 2-6. Pintel, G. and Diamond, J. (1991), Retailing, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Porter, M. (1985), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, The Free Press, New York, NY. Pramataris, K., Doukidis, G. and Paul, R.J. (1997), Exploring Information Systems in the ECR Context, The 7th European Conference on Information Systems, Cork. Retail World Pty Ltd (1995), Grocery Industry Marketing Guide 1995, Retail World Pty Ltd, Rozelle. Robins, G. (1994), Sailing into ECRs uncharted waters, Stores, Vol. 76 No. 10, pp. 43-4. Sansolo, M. (1993), ECR, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 72 No. 11, pp. 47-50. Smith, K. (1993), No brand too small, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 72 No. 12, pp. SS4-SS5. Spence, M.A. (1994), EDI quickly becoming the norm, CMA Magazine, Vol. 68 No. 5, pp. 14-16. Swatman, P. (1993), Integrating EDI into existing organisational structure and internal application systems: the Australian experience, School of Computing, PhD Thesis, Curtin University. Thayer, W. (1991). Computer-aided ordering is ready should you care?, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 70 No. 3, pp. 81-6. Washburn, T. (1995), Create win-win-win promotions, The Nielsen Solution Partnership, pp. 8-9. Weinstein, S. (1995), On the cutting edge, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 74 No. 8, pp. 34-40. Wheatley, M. (1996), IT drives the chain, Management Today, pp. 102-4. White, M., Wiland, E. and Craig, E. (1995), The Food Week Industry Yearbook and Directory of Suppliers, 1995 edition, Ian Huntley Pty Ltd, Sydney. Wood, P.K. (1996), Preparing for ECR at the store level, Chain Store Age, Vol. 72 No. 5, p. 230.

42