- ASDA/ WAL-MART
They first opened their doors in 1965 and they now have over 300 stores in circuit. ASDA joined the Wal – Mart family in 1999. In 1989 they launched their clothes range “GEORGE”. They offer three main different formats, smaller stores mainly found around the suburbs, superstores and supercenters. One of their typical stores will contain over 30,000 products 40% of which are non food.
- Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. It consists of Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Sainsbury's Local, Bells Stores, Jackson’s Stores and JB Beaumont, Sainsbury's Online and Sainsbury's Bank. It employs 148,000 people who are committed to delivering ‘Great Food at Fair Prices’. They also serve over 16 million people every week in over 455 supermarkets and 301 convenience stores across the country.
In September 2005, Sainsbury's launched ‘Try Something New Today’, a campaign to encourage customers to try new products and ingredients. ‘Try’ cards outline simple but effective ways for customers to make small but significant changes to the food they eat. The campaign, promoted in stores, newspapers, magazines and on TV, has been hugely successful, with over 7 million ‘Try’ cards picked up in stores.
- Morrison’s
They first opened in 1899 in the form of a stall that sold egg and butter. It was opened by William Morrison, who began to create the company we know today.
“Our business is moving forward and we are now firmly established as a national brand, trading from 378 stores and serving more than nine million customers a week. The time is right to review our marketing communications and strategic ad approach."
They mainly promote their low prices, special offers and multi save promotions.
- Marks and Spencer
In 1894 Michael Marks formed a partnership with Tom Spencer, a former cashier from the wholesale company IJ Dewhirst. Then in 1926 Marks and Spencer became a public limited company. They have over 600 stores located throughout the UK; this includes our largest store at Marble Arch, London. In addition, the Company has 240 stores worldwide, including over 219 franchise businesses, operating in 34 countries. Marks and Spencer offers premium quality food which are aimed at the middle to upper class customer base. Marks and Spencer outlet stores are usually located in areas where individuals with higher disposable incomes live. This is due to the fact that these individuals’ are less price conscious and more health conscious. They cater for everyone office groups on their lunch birthday and dinner parties ECT. There are now 187 Simply Food stores with outlets on high streets, at railway stations, petrol forecourts, airports and motorway service stations.
For this assignment I am going to take a more in depth look at Marks and Spencer.
They are known for being the one of the main UK retailers for clothes, food, home ware and financial services. Marks and Spencer have over 300 stores within the UK and over 28 stores in other countries world wide. There are many stakeholders of marks and Spencer.
The internal stakeholders of Marks and Spencer staff and management, owners and shareholders. Staff and management are important at every level of Marks and Spencer as they rely on their positions within the firm to earn a wage. They depend on the profit of the company for their income. These shareholders are internal as their money is used to benefit the company by providing the means for further investment and expansion of the company.
The external stakeholders in marks and Spencer are the customers, suppliers, communities/General Public. The customers are the most obvious stakeholder of any business. Their customers buy products from marks and Spencer’s to benefit themselves and therefore Marks and Spencer’s are making a profit. The suppliers of Marks and Spencer are the firms in the business environment that sell their goods to marks and Spencer benefiting both parties involved. The communities and the general public can be seen as external stakeholders as a firms products/services impact on them. Marks and Spencer have a lot to consider when producing their products and services including whether or not their products or services are produced in an environmentally friendly way and that the methods of production chosen so not produce high levels of pollution. Their reputation affects the buying habits of the consumers.
Emphaise how issues in the food industry can affect stakeholders
The stakeholders involved are the following;
- Pressure Groups (friends of the earth)
- Consumers (concerned over pesticides)
- Shareholders (concerned over reputation, profits and shareholder value)
- Managers/Directors ( concerned about profit levels)
- Suppliers (concerned about providing M & S with quality produce)
- These take the form of groups such as Greenpeace and Oxfam had their say with Marks and Spencer’s via many meetings and discussions, joint projects and plan A meetings. They voiced many opinions towards the plan A and they asked marks and Spencer to carry out some tasks. These include collaborating with the pressure groups and their customers, regularly review their Plan A commitments to the near future and to support legislation on minimum standards. Marks and Spencer took all of their comments on board and made some needed changes to their business. They are now collaborating with these pressure groups on various commitments throughout their Plan A. they also plan to work with them on various effective legislation.
- Marks and Spencer listened to their customers via monitoring their sales levels, the research that they carried out and the feedback that they received directly from their consumers. These things told Marks and Spencer’s many things. In 2006 the research that they carried out told Marks and Spencer’s that their consumers had a great reaction to their “look behind the label” marketing campaign. They also informed Marks and Spencer that their consumers wanted more information about the social, ethical and environmental of their products and they also wanted to understand Marks and Spencer’s whole approach. Marks and Spencer used the responses they received from their consumers to help them form the “eco plan” as part of their plan A. All the main headings within Marks and Spencer are based on the feedback from their consumers.
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Marks and Spencer’s listened to their shareholders via the AGM meetings, meeting with the institutions, survey of institution and ethical surveys. Investors who specialise in the risks and opportunities, as well as some individual shareholders have asked Marks and Spencer’s about how they intend to their performance in the future. They also asked to provide information on Plan A. Marks and Spencer have reacted to this feedback in a positive way and they have a report containing their Plan A 100 commitments which is what they are providing as a source to report their future performance. They have now started to include an update within their financial results on May 22nd and also in their Annual Report, and they intend to continue this from now on.
- Marks and Spencer listened to their employees via feedback to Plan A, Surveys and Business involvement groups. They also received positive feedback from their “look behind the label” campaign. When Marks and Spencer’s decided to launch Plan A their employees wanted to know how they could participate. Their employees also gave them suggestions on how they could improve various things such as their packaging and recycling activities. Marks and Spencer took this feedback from their employees and used it efficiently as possible. In March 2007, they held the first of many “green weeks” for their employees. They also started to implement many of the suggestions given by their employees such as recycling their carrier bags, and have formed an approved office recycling scheme.
- Marks and Spencer listened to their employees via Visits and meeting on Plan A, UK Agriculture show and Envirowise Retail Supply Chain Forum. These things told marks and Spencer’s many things such as their suppliers wanted to gain a better understanding about Marks and Spencer’s Plan A “eco plan”, and how it affects suppliers. Most asked for Marks and Spencer’s help in improving their own personal performance levels and sharing best practice. Marks and Spencer’s took this information and they started to hold meetings with their main suppliers to discuss their Plan A commitments. They also offered funding to their suppliers towards the cost of “green model” factories.
Gm Foods
On the 25th January 2001 Marks and Spencer had closed their doors to Genetically Modified foods eager to reverse the falling demand of the products as they contained GM products. Marks and Spencer where the First Food retailer to carry out this action within their stores. It was said to be a “landmark first for a British food retailer” David Gregory stated that no produce containing any GM foods would be fed to any of the chicken lambs ect. Marks and Spencer have changed over 1,800 of their recipes to ensure they don’t contain any GM ingredients. Even though they removed most of GM ingredients they could not however remove them all. For example, a spokesman admitted that chymosin, used in Vegetarian cheese, other options where being explored. On June 31 Tom Clayton, head of food Technology said that “after 30 years with the company this has been the single biggest project it had undertaken” it was also stated that products such as brown sauce and honey
Marks And Spencer decided to make the move into stopping GM foods in their store because of the swing of public opinion towards them. A spokesperson stated that Marks and Spencer “made this decision as a direct result of listening carefully to their views”. Kevin Dunion stated that it was “an extremely important and welcomed move by Marks and Spencer, Marks and Spencer are making a stand for the consumer”.
Dr Tom Clayton stated “we have to put our customers first and we made this decision as a direct result of listening carefully to their views. These changes to our food products will be made as quickly as possible”, to cause less distribution to the consumers as possible.
There are many risks to GM foods these include the following:
- GM foods may cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.
- They can also produce allergies.
Marks and Spencer plan to keep track of changing legislation on GM foods and labelling to help maintain their policy of only selling foods made with non GM ingredients. They plan on doing this by continuing to make food with non GM ingredients.
Banning of Trans Fats
Marks and Spencer has also become the first British retailer to ban man made fats also known as Tran’s fatty acids. They set a plan on November 20th 2005 to remove all Tran’s fats in their produce by April 2005. This was decided after concerns about these Trans fats having a known link with raised blood pressure, Coronary Heart Disease and Diabetes. They cause more health problems within individuals than the natural fats. These Trans fats are used within biscuits cakes and ready meals. These fats are a lot more dangerous as there is no obligation to declare them on food labels. Within Britain the Food Standards Agency are considering having to order organization to declare these Trans fats on their packaging. Marks and Spencer aim to cut their overall product containing Trans fats from 1,200 to 700 by April. Marks and Spencer have encouraged others to do the same including Tesco’s and Waitrose to cut out Trans fats in their own brand products.
They hope to create a best practice approach to lowering the amount of fat and sugar in their foods. They did this buy removing potentially harmful hydrogenated fats and oils from ready meals in November 2005. They aim to have all their food free from these types of fat by the end of 2006. They have developed new guidelines on the fat and sugar content and are now working to set reduction targets.
Banning of antibodies used to pump up chickens
Marks and Spencer have decided that they will be the first British retailer to ban the use of antibodies to plump up their chickens. Marks and Spencer announced on the 18th November that it aims to ban the use of anti bodies with their feed to “pump them up” quicker. This is harmful to humans as they get a low dose of antibodies when consuming food and they can then develop a resistance to drugs, which mean that these drugs are less effective when they are prescribed when prescribed for an illness. There is also the fear that new super bugs may be develo0ped as they are constantly being mutated to beat the antibodies. Dr Tom Clayton stated that “the move has been implemented in direct response to the growing concern about the use of antibodies in the food chain”. He also added that “customers have been increasingly alarmed about the routine use of antibodies which can diminish effectiveness in the treatment of human disease if a resistance builds up over time.” Marks and Spencer have listened to their customers and believe that this is the only way to reassure them.
Free range chickens only
On the 6th October 1997 Marks and Spencer announced it was banishing eggs laid by caged hens from all of its stores. From now on it will only sell free range eggs. The EU rules means hens “shoved into sheds of unlimited size with no more space” says James Erlichman. Marks and Spencer states that its own rules are better than the EU rules. Marks and Spencer have been only selling free range eggs for over 10 years (since September 1997). They took this decision as part of their on going commitment to animal welfare. In 2002 they took this one step further and now only use free range eggs in all of their foods.
Marks and Spencer Apply their ‘Oakham’ approach to our whole fresh turkeys for Christmas 2005 and our fresh free-range eggs. The launch revised livestock specifications including improved animal welfare requirements and the use of Key Welfare Indicators (KWI) to track Marks and Spencer where highly Commended in the RSPCA’s Alternative Award on Food Animal Welfare. They also received an award by Compassion in World Farming for investment and Innovation in Farm Animal Welfare Research 2005/06 for their work on ‘Oakham’ chicken.
They have started to introduce these to the suppliers of free-range eggs used in our food. For Christmas 2005, Marks and Spencer’s free-range whole turkeys were produced based on our ‘Oakham’ principles. They are also still developing their revised livestock specifications
and Key Welfare Indicators.
Fishing
Marks and Spencer announced it would remove GM Soya and maize from its fish food for salmon another farmed fish. Marks and Spencer worked closely with all their suppliers including feed companies, farmers and fish processors to create the first certified non GM diet for farmed fish and fish products.
Marks and Spencer plan to evaluate the practicality and costs of introducing a unique salmon feed formula. They are still evaluating the feasibility of developing a new salmon feed formula.
Packaging
Marks and Spencer where the first retailer in the UK to trial the use of recycled plastic in food and drinks packaging on a large scale. This is funded by WRAP, and marks and Spencer work in conjunction with Loop London and London Remade to introduce post – use recycled plastic in the packaging for its “food to go” range. To further encourage closed loop recycling, Marks & Spencer will also provide recycling bins at the front of four central London stores for the collection of used plastic containers that are suitable for closed loop recycling, and cardboard packaging.
Marks and Spencer are planning to continue to implement ‘Responsible Food Packaging’. This includes measures to for example introduce biodegradable plastic packaging made from biodegradable vegetables and salads from April 2005. they also plan to replace plastic sandwich with cardboard alternatives.
Labelling
Marks and Spencer have listened to their customers and in January 2007 they introduced the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) front of pack food traffic light system on the food categories recommended by the FSA.
They where the first retailer to combine colour coding with additional information on the percentage a serving contributes to the Guideline Daily Amount. Marks and Spencer now have front of pack labelling on over 800 products and have also introduced it on in store recipe cards. They plan on continuing to listen to their customers and to establish which other categories that they will find this labelling useful.
Marks and Spencer also make it easy for customers to choose ‘at a glance’ the healthy option across our range of food through use of our Eat Well sunflower logo. We now have over 30% of our food catalogue labelled as a healthier option including sandwiches and prepared meals.
Fairtrade
This is a guarantee to customers that the farmers who produce the product get a fair price for their crop plus a ‘Fairtrade Premium’ which is invested into their community.
In 2006 Marks and Spencer changed all the tea and coffee they sell to Fairtrade, which meant over £340,000 in Fairtrade premium went directly back to our farmers. The customers of marks and Spencer welcomed this change and it meant a percentage increase in sales of Fairtrade Tea and Coffee by 5%, throughout the year.
New Fairtrade products will also appear in Marks and Spencer’s food hall’s in February 2007 with the introduction of Fairtrade wines from Argentina, South Africa and Chile.
M&S will also convert all of its pineapples, sugars in its 13 jams/marmalades to Fairtrade as well as all the sugar in its 13 jams and marmalades to Fairtrade. All of this adds to the Fairtrade fresh produce, honey, nuts and chocolate it already sells.
From June 2005 onwards marks and Spencer’s are only going to sell 100% Fairtrade Tea and Coffee in the café Revive.
Food Miles
Marks & Spencer has become the latest food retailer to react to growing consumer enthusiasm for local food and concerns over climate change.
Typically it is taken to mean the distance travelled to move food from the place it is produced to the store where it's bought. But increasingly the definition goes wider, to include issues like locality, freshness, use of preservatives, packaging, choice, support for UK farmers and quality.
Marks and Spencer are contributing to this important debate by funding a four-year post-graduate research project on food miles at the University of Surrey.
Marks and Spencer’s CSR Report for 2006
The point of this report is to inform individuals of marks and Spencer’s CSR policies, “we listen to the views of our stakeholders.”
For the last few years, research has shown that our customers believe that CSR is very important for us. For example, in August 2005, 97% of our customers said that it was important that we operate responsibly in all that we do.
This year we also saw a new customer expectation emerging, with 78% of them saying that they’d like to know more about the way our goods are produced, from standards for animal welfare and fish sourcing to the prices paid to producers in the developing world.
