Retailers defend payment times in light of BERR code

The voluntary code, which was drawn up by Mandelson’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, was launched last month and is designed to help smaller businesses’ cashflow through the downturn.

Some retail chains have voiced support for the code’s aims although as Packaging News went to press, no multiple had confirmed that it would become a signatory.

A statement from Asda, which sent a representative to the launch of the code, said: “We think the code is very reasonable and [it is reasonable] that we work together with our suppliers to get the best deal for the customer and also to create a stable framework for their business relations with us.”

The supermarket, which was one of the first firms linked to the code alongside John Lewis and British Gas, has slashed payment times for a number of suppliers.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s told Packaging News that it has an online system in place whereby suppliers can request early payments.

An M&S spokesman, meanwhile, said its payment terms were between 16 and 30 days for non-food goods and between 18 and 25 for food.

However, other retailers and brands, including Coca-Cola, Morrisons, Tesco, Unilever and Waitrose, said it was too early to say if they would be signing up to the code.

British Retail Consortium spokesman Richard Dodd welcomed the code but said: “It’s right to say contracts should be honoured, but the code is highlighting best practice,” he said.

At the time of the code’s launch last month, voices from across the packaging industry broadly welcomed the initiative and called on supermarkets and other major packaging buyers to back it.

Rodney Steel, chief executive of the British Contract Packers and Manufacturers’ Association, said: “The concept is very encouraging and provided it can be made to work, this initiative would take a huge strain out of running a small business.”

Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle and British Printing Industries Federation corporate affairs director Andrew Brown both argued supermarkets should also put pressure on their suppliers to ensure that best practice was applied across the supply chain.

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