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NEWS COLES GIVES SUPPLIERS ‘FAST AND DETAILED’ INSIGHTS Coles has partnered with IRI to give suppliers an “unprecedented level” of insight into customer needs, utilising data from more than 2500 supermarkets, Coles Express convenience and Coles Liquor stores. Last year, Coles named IRI as the sole provider of scan data and analysis drawn from all Coles businesses, providing subscribing suppliers with sales data for their products and the categories in which they operate, to help them plan for their business and identify growth opportunities. As part of this partnership, Coles has now launched Coles Synergy, a new data analytics tool utilising IRI’s Liquid Data platform (ILD), which is used by major international retailers including Morrisons, Waitrose and Boots in the UK, Kroger and Albertsons in the US, Sobeys in Canada and Conad in Italy. Said to be designed specifically for the retail and FMCG sector, ILD enables IRI clients to integrate multiple data assets including market, consumer, customer, and supply chain. Coles Synergy will give suppliers “fast and detailed” insights across products, stores, geographies, and sales channels, allowing them to better understand customer needs and collaborate more closely with Coles on strategic initiatives. As part of its strategy to inspire customers through best-value food and drink solutions to make lives easier, Coles says it utilises insights drawn from more than one billion customer transactions a year to inform key operational decisions, including changes to product ranges, demand forecasting and promotions. COLES AND FLYBUYS AIM HIGH WITH FLYPAY Coles and flybuys have teamed up to launch flypay, a new way for customers to seamlessly pay for purchases and collect flybuy points when shopping online at selected retailers. The new payment method is claimed to speed up the online checkout process for customers, who will no longer need to enter their payment and delivery information separately when shopping with flypay-enabled retailers. Once customers set up their secure flypay account, all they need to do is select flypay when completing their transaction. Collecting flybuys points is also said to be easier. Customers can add their flybuys number to their flypay account details and collect points every time they use flypay to pay for shopping online with qualifying partners including Liquorland, First Choice Liquor and First Choice Liquor Market. Coles CEO Emerging Businesses George Saoud says flypay has made online shopping faster, easier and more secure than ever before. “Coles is committed to helping our customers shop more easily anytime, anywhere, and we’re thrilled to introduce flypay as a payment option for customers shopping at any of our online liquor retailers,” he said. “We know how much our customers love flybuys, and we want make it easier for them to get rewards every time they shop. By checking out with flypay at eligible flybuys partner retailers, they automatically receive their points without needing to re-enter their card details, ensuring a convenient, efficient and great value shop.” COLES PROMOTES FAIR TREATMENT OF HORTICULTURE WORKERS Coles claims to have taken another step towards being Australia’s most sustainable supermarket, incorporating Fair Farms certification into the Coles ethical sourcing program to support farmers using ethical employment practices and fair treatment of workers. Fresh produce suppliers to Coles can now register with Fair Farms to satisfy the requirements of the ethical sourcing program. Aimed at addressing problems around workplace compliance and exploitation within the Australian horticulture industry, the Fair Farms program provides support and training for farm employers on fair employment practices and a pathway to independent third-party audit and certification. Horticulture industry body Growcom developed the Fair Farms certification program with support from the Fair Work Ombudsman, the federal Department of Agriculture and AUSVEG. Coles says it contributed to the original design of the Fair Farms standard to ensure the program would meet Coles’ already-established ethical sourcing standards. Coles General Manager of Produce Craig Taylor says adopting Fair Farms certification means farmers now have multiple ways to become approved under the ethical sourcing program, which also uses the internationally recognised Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex), a global ethical supply chain management platform used to assess supply chain risk in more than 150 countries. “Around 95 per cent of the fresh produce we sell comes from Australian farms, and it’s important to Coles and to our customers that the workers in our supply chain are treated fairly,” he said. “By adopting this additional industry- based solution that can be used by all suppliers regardless of who buys their produce, Coles is making it easier for Aussie farmers to meet ethical workplace standards.” 12 RETAIL WORLD JUN, 2020