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The food industry turns to ECR concepts to solve its distribution problems.
Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) makes a great banner for the food industry to march behind into the next century. But as a hard-core distribution strategy -- manufacturer to warehouse to store - ECR becomes vague and unfocused. ECR covers a broad range of marketing and operational initiatives, anywhere from efficient store assortments to cross-docking.
Efficient Consumer Response has been compared to Quick Response, a strategy devised by apparel retailers, mass merchandisers, their suppliers and raw material providers to shorten the pipeline from raw material to checkout counter at the retail store. The motivation was to reduce inventory in the pipeline and respond more rapidly to customer demands. QR spelled out three technologies for implementation:
* Bar codes on all products sold in retail outlets:
* Use of bar code scanners at point-ofsale (checkout counters) in retail outlets;
* Electronic transmission of replacement data from retailer to manufacturer. Implementation of QR didn't progress very far before two additional factors became apparent:
* Distribution centers would require a higher level of information processing and mechanized material handling to keep inventory flowing through the pipeline.
* To...