September 14, 2018 Industry news
Gary Lynch, CEO at GS1 UK speaks to George Wright, our new Supervisory Board member about the adoption of GS1 standards, their role in the retail grocery industry and the benefits they bring
1. What are your expectations from joining the GS1 UK Supervisory Board?
I’m really looking forward to working with both other retailers and supply partners in an open way, understanding everyone’s issues and working together to bring about common solutions that make a real difference.
2. What role does GS1 UK play in supporting the retail grocery industry in general and Tesco in particular?
The UK grocery market has to be one of the most competitive and complex in the world – it’s our role to ensure that we standardise where possible to bring efficiency into our industry, so we can focus our efforts on competing where it counts – for the customer.
3. What do you think the top issues and challenges that the retail industry faces today? And how do you think GS1 standards can help tackle these challenges?
Retail today is more complex than it’s ever been, with an increasingly diverse customer base expecting more products through more channels, supplied by more partners. Providing standards that increase our ability to do this efficiently and effectively is a great opportunity for GS1 to provide industry leadership.
4. Please tell us a bit more about your current role at Tesco?
I’m focused on a lot of our core processes, from space, pricing, promotions and ranging, to data administration and systems, and how we can make them as efficient and effective as possible, to give us a competitive advantage and deliver a better shopping experience for customers.
5. If you were to give us one steer as GS1 UK, what would be the single most important thing that we should focus on?
I think we’re on the right track already – it’s about bringing that to bear in an industry that really needs it.