By George Anderson
The cost of unsaleables rose from $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion last year, according to the newly released 2003 Unsaleables Benchmark Report.
The research sponsored by Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) found that drug stores have a significantly higher rate of unsaleables than supermarkets.
According to numbers on the Supermarket News' Web site, manufacturer costs for unsaleables in the drug channel were 2.57 percent of sales compared to 1.31 percent in supermarkets. Both figures are higher than the 1.18 percent of sales reported overall.
Moderator's Comment: Are there significant opportunities to reduce unsaleables? Why is their such a difference in unsaleables between retail channels? [George Anderson - Moderator]