Coles could cut merchandising reps

Coles has floated a plan to create its own panel of approved field agents who would go out to food suppliers to tender for their services.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this would enable Coles to push down the fee, and charge a rebate on top of that, to shift revenues of independent field agents into its own revenue stream.

Field agents who were not part of the Coles panel could be denied access to its stores unless they became accredited by Coles and undertook a training course - for a fee.

The benefit for suppliers, according to Coles, would be its ability to extract cheaper rates from field agents, and to simplify and standardise the duties performed by the reps so that they delivered better value for suppliers.

A spokesman for Coles told the SMH the proposal was partly ''supplier driven''.

''One area suppliers tell us we could improve is how we work with their field force teams - reps they employ to support their brand in-store.

''So we are currently exploring options to make this service better for suppliers, better for our stores and most importantly better for customers,'' the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson told the SMH that no decisions had been taken, nor would they be without consulting suppliers.