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Supplier focus Group:
GAB is a Good Customer
– But Listen More to Our Ideas
Working with GAB is a positive experience. The
people we deal with are professional, open
and ambitious, and do not act selfishly in the
exchange of information. We seldom experience
unreasonable demands, and there are clear KPIs
and fair assessments. We do not have any issues
with payments, but late purchase orders can be
a problem.
GAB places a lot of emphasis on their Sensible
Drinking campaign and GAB’s Code of Marketing
is very strict, banning any sexual content and
inclusion of young people. This has made it more
challenging to develop campaigns, but has also
forced more creativity, so this is not a problem but
a positive challenge. Links to the international
brands can be more of a challenge. Because
campaigns must be aligned to international
standards, it sometimes clashes with the local
context and requirements, and we have to spend
a lot of time on agreeing on a solution.
We are pleased to be working with GAB – they are
one of our best customers. However, we feel that
we could contribute more if we were included
earlier in the decision-making process, enabling
better planning. Communications can be an
issue and it would be good to have more avenues
for feedback and ideas for product development.
Although there are a lot of good initiatives, such
as the national sales conference and supplier
forum, more recognition of good performance
and social events, e.g. karaoke nights, could
forge a closer relationship.
From our perspective, it is certainly important
that GAB acts as a responsible company. It
seems that the area that should be focused
on most is environmental protection,
particularly on packaging and recycling.
It is also important that there is continuity. Once
you start an initiative, for example the Chinese
Charity Concert, there is an expectation that
it is followed up with – otherwise you create
resentment. It also seems that GAB has a lot of
good initiatives but don’t really talk about them
– it would be valuable to make some of these
initiatives more visible in the marketplace.
GAB should be proud of the brand they have built.
The Company and its products have a strong
presence across the industry. People are proud
to be associated with GAB and there are many
loyal brand followers.
Responsible Marketplace Practices
We asked all our suppliers to respond
to a survey and presented the results to them
at a Supplier Appreciation event.
About the Supplier Group
Suppliers were invited to participate in
the focus group, selected and prioritised
based on turnover. Three participated,
representing packaging, media and
advertising. The suppliers had been with
working with GAB an average of 12 years.
No GAB representatives were present in
the focus group, and the meeting was held
under Chatham House rules (no attribution
of comments to individuals).
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