Retailing Logistics & Fresh Food Packaging

 

We rely on fresh food to live. Its quality and freshness have a direct effect on our health and diet. Food retailers compete strongly in the area of fresh food as well as in a myriad of other products. Consumers want to see the best products on display at appropriate prices so they can identify value in the retail food offer. For retailers, making sure the stores and shelves are stocked is a fundamental component of modern

retailing. This fact has increasingly compelled retailers to think about how they structure, control and amend supply chains to ensure they are effective and efficient. With changes in production, logistics, retailing and consumer tastes, combined with increasingly technological capabilities and global sourcing reach, this task has become ever more complex. More and more difficult choices have to be made. How can the organizations involved in supply chains make sense of the sometimes conflicting tensions and pressures? What are the ‘right’ decisions and appropriate solutions?

This book has its origins in research work being undertaken for higher degrees by two of the authors from two different countries. From an initial meeting at a seminar, a series of discussions and conversations have taken place, broadened to include the research supervisors. From different perspectives and backgrounds, a common cause has been identified. The concept of packaging logistics embodies this set of beliefs about the future of the food retail supply chain. The search for a reduction in  omplexity and an increase in common handling systems has marked out this field, often in the form of a variety of returnable transit or retailing packaging units. Such a view is at the heart of this book.

This volume identifies the changes occurring in fresh food retail supply chains through the lens of packaging logistics. It tries to support organizations in developing their understanding of the changes and opportunities involved. We hope that academics and business managers will find useful elements here. One thing is certain: the pressure to get retail supply chains ‘right’ throughout the supply chain is not going to diminish. Packaging logistics is one way of cutting through what needs to be done.