Slotting fees in the news

Lance Jungmeyer chiming in...

Slotting fees ceased to be a dirty little secret long ago. Pretty much, the discussion has been in the open in the past few years, yet supermarkets still decline to publicly reveal the inner workings of slotting fees. And suppliers remain ever wary of alienating a key customer, or other potential customers.

In this Financial Times article, columnist John Gapper tries to shed more light on the subject.

Gapper derides the "sad state of many US supermarkets: their endless, pointless variety of cans and bags of processed food; their mediocre meat, fish and fruit; their posters offering a few cents off this and that; their general air of hopelessness."

He continues: "It is as if US chains, having opened up a lead over other countries, put their feet up in 1975 and whistled as they were overtaken in quality, variety and appeal by companies such as Tesco in the UK and Carrefour in France."

Gapper, a Brit, suggests that the U.S. supermarket scene will eventually look more like that in the U.K., where just a few chains dominate.

If that's the cure for slotting fees, for the produce industry's sake, God Save Slotting Fees!

U.S. grower-shippers have seen enough consolidation to last a lifetime. Although, you can bet there will be more consolidation.