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The emperor's new stores

From January, Asda promises to open its first ever glass-walled store giving shoppers "access to areas not normally seen". It is putting cameras into its suppliers' production areas, including a dairy farm and a carrot processing plant. This clearly reflects Asda's view of what tomorrow's shopper wants to know about the provenance of things that it sells.

For local retailers, the challenge is to be able to tell people about where their tinned tuna comes from, how local their eggs are, and what the traffic lights on a packet of sweets mean.

When was the last time that you audited what you sell and tested your team on how much they know about the products you sell? If it was longer than six months ago, then you should plan for a review soon.
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