Delegates could choose from a range of workshops each addressing a burning issue. Here is a selection of the thinking that emerged.

Globalisation  Retailers are increasingly asking for global or Pan-European account management and show a preference to work with global players who can offer product and brand consistency.  The workshop participants were in general sceptical of such demands.  One said:  "No retailer is global today. The profit and loss is still handled at national level and that is where the real power is."

They were also somewhat sceptical of the ability of retailers to create global preferred suppliers: "It is the preferred brand of the consumer that counts and that still varies greatly at national level."

Suppliers are also aware of the risk of signing deals which give global retailers prices they can use to rapidly win marketshare in new national markets. "This can have a huge impact on existing retailers with whom we have a strong relationship," commented one participant.

If global deals are signed then it should be only after serious thought and the relationship should be calibrated with maybe 20-30 targets and reviewed on a regular basis.

Single European pricing  Dixons Stores Group and other retailers are demanding that suppliers give them a single Europe price and this led to a lively discussion about what suppliers should do about this.  Most felt that such requests were often negotiating ploys:  "Retailers aggregate their total European volume and demand further discounts."

Delegates felt that in practice most retailers still do not operate at a Pan-European level but buy at country level. This means that there are no efficiency savings to be had by moving up to a European level. On the contrary, several suppliers said that they had assembled expensive Pan-European account management teams which simply duplicated the efforts of their national account teams.

In general, suppliers feel that requests for Pan-European buying can often be resisted. One delegate told how a request for the same prices in the Nordics and Eastern Europe rapidly foundered. "We analysed the models that were selling in the two blocs and quickly found that consumers wanted different models. The retailer threatened to airfreight goods into East Europe from Stockholm if we did not concede. So we analysed the cost of doing this. We concluded that airfreight would cost the retailer too much to carry out the threat."  This is a perfect example of how it pays suppliers to analyse and understand retailers business models and costs!

Account Management Whilst retailers were keen to be served by good account managers often staff shortages and the shape of the supplier organisation militated against this.  In some companies retail account managers were seen as a junior role.  This meant that these roles were often occupied  by less well skilled staff. In fact, delegates felt that retail called for particularly sophisticated account managers who were capable of seeing and putting the business case.  One said: "We all have huge problems recruiting good retail account managers."  This problem was further exacerbated by a lack of retail focused training programmes.

Often retailers wanted account managers who could make decisions. But, senior management from suppliers are often reluctant to become involved.  For some delegates short-term goal setting was a problem: "We want account managers to think long-term but set quarterly sales targets!"

Delegates were unsure how much profitability information should be given to retail account managers. Some felt that they wanted retail account managers to focus on volume sales, leaving product managers to worry about profitability.  One commented : "Can we trust account managers with profitability decisions?"  Perhaps this reflects the relatively low status of retail account managers.

All agreed that goals, training and recruitment needed to be thought through carefully. The workshop underlined the need for companies to have an entire account management system which connects strategic decisions through to resource allocation and execution.