AACS Industry Awards Criteria for 2008

We are please to be able to provide you with the criteria for the AACS Industry Awards for 2008 including the newly revised Retailer of the Year Awards.

Please find below a run down on the awards.

Background 

 

AACS for a number of years has provided a series of awards to supplier members for high performance in the following categories:  

 

• Daily fresh delivery  
• Direct delivery  
• Indirect delivery  
• Most improved 
• Grand Champion (highest overall score regardless of category)  

 

In 2007 AACS introduced a new group of awards for retailers.  

 

The data pool used for the awards was based on combinations of the Coalface Survey and the Coalface 360 survey. 

 

The Board of AACS has expressed concern about the relevance of the awards categories and the fact that the data pool being used is not directly related to the awards being given. In addition it was also recognised that regional distributors had been excluded in the past based on a lack of national coverage and also the same criteria had been applied to manufacturers and distributors without recognition of their different roles with the retailer. 

 

It was agreed that a working group would review the awards and the data collection process and recommend improvements. A panel comprising retailer, supplier and trade press met to consider how AACS should move forward.  

 

The New Awards  

 

1. Suppliers of the year (excluding distributors) 

 

The key elements of the service provided by suppliers and valued most by retailers centre around:  

 

• Account management  
• Innovation  
• Communication 
• Supply chain  

 

New supplier awards will be given for performance in the each of the following categories: 

 

• Tobacco  
• Beverages (excluding milk)
• Snacks/Ice cream  
• Confectionery 
• Outlet Services  
• Equipment  
• Convenience foods including Bakery, Milk, Bread, Flavoured Milk 
• General merchandise  

It is possible for a member to be included in more than one category. Paid up members of AACS will be allocated to all the categories in which they trade and the questionnaire sent out to retailers will show them as such.  

 

 

 

 

 

Criteria  

 

Suppliers will be scored by category managers out of 10 points on the following:  

 

• Supply chain efficiency 
• Data Integrity – accuracy of new line paperwork, promptness of detailing changes to retailer
• effective promotional program in place 
• Problem solving / corrective actions when situations develop 
• Account management, communication and pro-activeness 
• Category knowledge and direction 
• Supplier convenience channel involvement 
• Business protocol / conduct / integrity 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Distributor of the year  

 

A new category is introduced for distributors. The criteria will be scored by both retailers and the manufacturer (as a customer). 

 

Distributors will be scored by category managers and manufacturers/suppliers out of 10 points on the following criteria:  

 

• Store support  
• Speed to market with new products 
• Pricing accuracy  
• Stock availability  
• Inventory management 
• Computer ordering systems  
• Data sharing  
• Business protocol / conduct / integrity

 

3. AACS Grand Champion  

This award will be given to the supplier or distributor scoring highest overall in any category. For example a supplier who has products in two categories will be treated entirely separately in each of those categories. There will be no combining of performance.  

 

4. New product of the year  

This is a new award which will be voted upon by category managers. As with other awards scoring will be out of 10 for each of the following criteria:  

 

• Sales of the new product 
• Innovation 
• Launch execution 
• Support 
• Product availability 
• Marketing of the new product to the consumer 
• Point of sale material 

In order to be eligible for inclusion the manufacturer will nominate a new product launch to an AACS panel made up of retailer and supplier representation. The panel will decide if a suggested new product is a genuine new product launch and not simply a line extension.  

 

To be eligible all new products must have been launched during the period of April to March eg April 2007 to March 2008. AACS will invite suppliers to nominate new products annually in time for the survey process.  

 

5. Retailer of the year  

There will be two award groups containing 6 classes of awards (3 for each group):  

 

• Group 1 Major retailers which are:  
  • 7 Eleven  
  • BP  
  • Caltex 
  • Coles Express 
  • Mobil  
  • Woolworths Petrol  
  • UCB- (Head Office Only)  

 

• Group 2 Independent retailers  
  • All other retail members not included as major retailers above

     

 

Major Retailer Awards  

 

Group 1 awards for major Retailers will have 3 classes of awards available:  

 

• Head office  
• Best site - company operations (does not include UCB as their member stores are in independent group below) 
• Best site – franchised (does not include UCB as their member stores are in independent group below)  

 

The Head Office award (1 award) will recognise the best Major retailer performance in the following areas:  

 

• Category management  
• Innovation 
• Accessibility 
• Communication  

 

Suppliers and distributors will be invited to score retailers on the following criteria out of 10 points:  

 

• Problem solving / corrective actions when situations develop  
• Speed to market and Stock weight  
• Category Manager effectiveness, knowledge and direction  
• Company effectiveness  (driving the offer anticipating consumer needs)  
• Retailer support of supplier / manufacturer strategies 
• Business protocol / conduct / integrity 
• Communication to stores and suppliers  
• Compliance to promotions and planograms 

 

Best site awards – major retailers (2 awards)  

 

Major retailers will be invited to nominate 3 company operated sites and 3 franchised sites. The sites will be professionally mystery shopped by AACS. The best 2 sites from this stage overall will be visited by an independent ACAPMA panel in order to choose the winner of both the company operated and franchised sections.

Independent Retailer Awards  

 

 

 

There will be 3 classes of award relating to site operations:  

 

• Distributor retail for sites run by fuel distributors  
• Independent groups – less than 10 sites  
• Independent groups – greater than 10 sites  

 

Supplier members of AACS will be invited to confidentially nominate up to 5 retail companies in each class from a list provided by AACS.

 

Each nominated retailer will have the opportunity to nominate their best site. So a maximum of 15 sites will go through to the next round. These sites will be professionally mystery shopped by AACS. The top 2 sites in each class will be reviewed by an independent AACS panel and a winner will be selected. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fine Print  

 

Survey process 

 

The supplier competition will be based on data provided by Coalface Consulting using its Retailer Survey and 360 Survey  

 

The Distributor competition will be based on data provided by Coalface Consulting using its Retailer Survey and 360 Survey  

 

The New Product of the year award will be based on the results of a separate survey undertaken by AACS of category managers.  

 

The Major Retailer Head Office Award will be based on the 360 survey undertaken by Coalface Consulting  

 

An ordinal scoring system will be used once all surveys have been completed. In this was the impact of individual high or low scoring will be minimised. 

 

 

 

 

 

Confidentiality  

 

The data submitted by members will be confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party. The scores of other members in the same category will not be available.

All awards will be presented at the 2008 AACS Grand Gala Awards Dinner. If you have any questions regarding the criteria for the awards please contact the AACS office by e-mail marketing@aacs.org.au