In The News

David Sables, CEO, and the Sentinel Team appear regularly on and in various media, commentating and giving insight on industry issues. David is a regular columnist within ‘the Grocer’ magazine, as well as being a contributor to Forbes.

For press enquiries, please contact our UK office. call: +44 (0) 1753 867979 or email press@sentinelmc.com

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Account managers know they should do store visits, but once they are listed it’s the first routine they drop. Higher up the organisation it gets worse; sales directors are too important. Wandering around shops is job of the retail bosses, right? Yes, but that makes it your job, too. The point of purchase is the shopper’s window to your products. It is the objective and result of everything sales are... Read More

In selling, information is king and the best source of customer information is, of course, your customer. It’s a nice old-fashioned truism and with all the talk of collaboration these days we should dust off some of these pearls and cautiously lower our guard to try an open dialogue and ‘reset’ buyer rapport. Back in my early repping days, I kept a card under the Vauxhall Cavalier’s sun-visor with some... Read More

Put your hands in the air and give me your money - this is a stick-up". Or as it's now said: "Hold hands and play fair, I request your partnership investment - this is an opportunity." It's fascinating how retailer demands are now phrased to be code -compliant. 'Investment' not 'support', 'request' not 'demand'. Asda asked suppliers to state their 'requirements to unlock investment' - making it their proposal, not... Read More

After months of silence and reorganisation, Asda is now engaging with its suppliers on 2016 plans. It wants your money into cost of goods to bring down the everyday price, following Tesco beautifully. Sainsbury’s has also made a similar play for today’s market: it’s all about the COGs, not the lumps and bumps of support money that lead to un-strategic range proliferation. Sainsbury’s has gone further though: Argos looks a... Read More

Adjudicator Tacon's probe into category captaincy to stir up new hornet's nest After a 355-day investigation into the UK’s biggest retailer, Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon this week delivered her verdict on the “shocking” breaches of the Code by Tesco’s buying and finance departments, who between them systematically abused suppliers to prop up the supermarket’s ailing profits.The report catalogues the illegal deduction of multimillion pound sums and how Tesco delayed... Read More

Holland and Barrett is being accused of squeezing small businesses after it sent a letter to suppliers demanding contributions to its investment plan. In a letter this month, seen by the BBC, the high street retailer says it wants a reduction of costs of at least 5% from all its suppliers. It also wants suppliers to pay for £3m worth of security tags and CCTV. The Forum of Private Business... Read More

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch, who lived just North of Whoville, did not! Whether you are a supplier-Who or a supplier-Grinch this year depends on how you are coming through range rationalisation, I suppose, but the opportunity for 2016 might require a Grinch-like change in attitude. Our attitude is established over years. I remember as an account manager in a testing time getting... Read More

If your sales team struggles with the difference between selling and negotiation, here is an illustration for them. You will have witnessed the travesty that is the estate agent. While selling they try their best to match your property to the needs of a buyer. Solid. Once there is interest and the price negotiation begins, these guys forget who they represent, who pays them, ie the vendor. Their role in... Read More

It’s such a great time to be involved in grocery, don’t you think? There’s so much going on. To quote IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch: “What excites me the most is every type of company, new and old, large and small, has the chance to win from their current positions.” I couldn’t agree more. However, she also said, on bolder innovations from brands: “The pressure keeps mounting on the manufacturers... Read More