The grocery sector has always been driven by performance. Sales, margins, availability and service levels dominate commercial conversations.
Yet another performance indicator has a profound influence on commercial outcomes: the quality of the relationship between manufacturers, retailers, suppliers and every partner that influences the final product, writes Joanna Hick, Senior Consultant, FMCG, VerityRI.
Performance beyond just numbers
At first glance, our FMCG relationship data may seem surprising that Delivery is the only relationship theme where negative feedback outweighs positive, while Financials records one of the weakest overall satisfaction scores. After all, FMCG organisations invest heavily in operational excellence, service levels and commercial performance.
Yet the data reveals something more nuanced. Delivery and Financials are rarely just conversations about logistics or price; they are reflections of the strength of the underlying relationship.
In today’s FMCG environment, where inventories are lean and there is little room for error, Delivery ‘On Time In Full’ has become one of the clearest indicators of whether a supplier is reliable and trustworthy. When deliveries fail, clients don’t question the products or people, but the reliability of delivery and whether they can depend on that supplier. Feedback centres on chronic availability issues, slow and inconsistent fulfilment, poor communication during disruptions, operational errors that increase workload, and a perception that customers are expected to work around supplier constraints rather than receive a seamless service experience.
Financials tell a similar story. Customers rarely leave because of price alone. They leave because they can no longer justify the value they receive. As margins tighten, conversations increasingly centre on value for money, transparency and flexibility. Strong service, communication and partnership make premium pricing acceptable. When those weaken, price quickly comes under greater scrutiny and customers ask, “If I’m paying a premium, am I receiving premium value?”
The highest-rated themes across the data are Expertise and Understanding, People, Product, Innovation and Creativity and the overall Experience. These are the qualities that differentiate trusted strategic partners from transactional suppliers. Alongside Financials and Delivery, however, Communication, Attitude and the overall Relationship receive the lowest satisfaction scores, reinforcing that commercial risk emerges when relationships come under pressure.
Why relationships outperform processes under pressure
In an industry that is often viewed as highly transactional, it can be tempting to focus almost exclusively on operational KPIs, particularly when margins are under pressure like they are today. PwC’s 2025 Consumer Packaged Goods Executive Survey found that growth across many consumer goods categories has slowed to single-digit levels, with executives citing economic volatility, tariffs, cost inflation and margin pressure as key challenges. Yet experience shows that when disruption strikes, it is the relationship that holds up the partnership.
The organisations that adapt fastest are those with partnerships built on trust, transparency and collaboration. Trust enables earlier conversations, quicker problem-solving and a focus on protecting supply and creating long-term value, rather than simply negotiating over price.
That is the difference between a transactional relationship and a strategic partnership.
Human to human
Relationships are often viewed as intangible. Unlike sales figures or service levels, trust cannot be measured with a single number on a spreadsheet.
Perhaps the most revealing insight from our FMCG data is the role of people. Knowledgeable, responsive and trusted teams are among the strongest drivers of relationship strength. Conversely, poor relationship scores are among the weakest across the dataset, showing that failing to maintain relationships carries a significant commercial cost.
Relationship health is not simply a measure of sentiment. It is a leading indicator of future performance.
Spotting the warning signs
Many of the issues that eventually affect financial outcomes appear first within the relationship itself. Declining trust, slower communication, reduced collaboration and lower advocacy often emerge months before they become visible through traditional commercial metrics.
The warning signs are often subtle. Partners become less engaged, conversations become reactive and operational frustrations shift discussions from growth and innovation to cost and price.
This is why organisations should resist viewing price feedback in isolation. There is often a strong relationship between operational issues, such as inconsistent supply chain performance and declining perceptions of value for money. Equally, organisations with strong communication, transparency and relationship management can often offset the impact of operational challenges, preserving customers’ confidence even when issues occur.
Organisations that measure relationship health gain early visibility of these issues and can act before they escalate.
Reactive vs proactive
No organisation can avoid every disruption. Delivery will occasionally be delayed, lead times will fluctuate and unforeseen challenges will occur. What determines whether trust is strengthened or weakened is not the problem itself, but how it is managed.
Customers recognise that problems happen. What they remember is whether suppliers communicated early, took ownership and resolved them collaboratively. Proactive, communication can preserve confidence even when operational performance falls short.
This also explains why Communication and Attitude sit among the weakest rated themes in our FMCG data. Strong relationship skills frequently soften the commercial impact of operational challenges, helping customers maintain confidence in the overall value they receive. Conversely, when communication becomes defensive, delayed or inconsistent, even relatively small issues can quickly become discussions about price, value and whether the partnership is still delivering what customers expect.
Ultimately, businesses are judged as much by how they respond to challenges as by the challenges themselves.
Fit for the future
Looking ahead, these dynamics will only become more important.
Technology, including AI, will play an increasingly important role in forecasting demand and improving supply chain visibility, but it cannot fill the trust gap.
The grocery businesses that perform best over the next decade will combine technological capability with strong relationships, recognising relationship health as a measurable commercial asset rather than a soft metric.
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