P&G, Spar: effects of IT on business processes

134 IT experts from 23 countries discussed the effects of technological development on FMCG trade at the “CIES – The Food Business Forum” conference in Monte Carlo, in March. After the acquisition of Gillette by P&G last year, synergies have resulted in savings of USD 1 billion and sales also expanded by 1 per cent. However, integrating Gillette into Procter&Gamble was not an easy task – said Caroline Basyn, director responsible for supply chain management and market development. of P&G Switzerland. Success was mainly due to the fact that the global distribution of services, tools and control systems had been planned in advance. Preparations had been made for integration, even before the final approval for the acquisition was obtained. Gillette employees had been informed about P&G using Intranet. P&G was also able to decide which Gillette systems should be adopted. Following the acquisition of Gillette, over 50 per cent of revenues are generated by body care products and cosmetics. The distribution system was converted to be able to handle smaller size products and the number of warehouses was halved in order to allow deliveries to be made on a daily basis. Client relation activities have also been remodelled. Thomas Thalhammer, the business development director of Spar Austria presented a model used for analysis. They analyse assortments and decide which products should be stocked. They compile and integrate all sales, distribution and warehousing data as quickly as possible, in order to make the right decisions. Such analysis of items allows Spar to optimise the number of items within a category and the shelf image, as well as to measure the effectiveness of promotions. They can also measure sales per square meter and per customer.