The greenest beans, the juiciest mango and ultra-fresh spinach.
It’s fair to say that our buyers are proud of what they do. They are passionate about their product and know everything about it. As truly positive and hands-on connectors, they are all experts, specialising in their field and central in connecting with both internal and external stakeholders. With passion and enthusiasm, they work with growers on a daily basis to provide our customer with the most delicious fruits and vegetables.
No two days are the same in the buyers’ and operational buyers’ team of the Commerce department. Together with our customer, our buyers determine the long-term strategy and translate it into an optimal chain from field to customer. As for the operational buyers, they convert the long-term strategy into everyday actions. Together they constitute a tight-knit team.
Within their team, our buyers are the key contact for Delhaize. All buyers have their own product category where they discuss range, promo actions, quality expectations and specifications with Delhaize’s category and sourcing managers. Together, they reflect on the past season to create effective action plans for the upcoming season and the long-term supply chain. They assess which parts of the supply chain can be further optimised.
In addition they also keep a close watch on crop optimisation and climate changes in conjunction with the growers and their colleagues in Strategic Sourcing. Bakker strives for sustainable long-term relationships where we work together with the growers to see how we can help them achieve our common goals. Amongst other things, this means more transparent and fairer arrangements on quality and purchase, and support for sustainable cultivation. The team makes arrangements with our growers on such aspects as prices, quality, specifications and annual volumes.
Together with our colleagues in Marketing, Production and Quality, they focus on sustainable packaging and efficient transportation of our products.
In other words, the colleagues in the commercial team can be described as hands-on connectors, both with internal and external stakeholders. Every day, they lead the way in ‘building better’: better food, better sourcing, better chains, better together.
Within the team, our operational buyers interact with the growers every single day but internally they also work with all relevant teams in transport, logistics and production. It’s a fun and varied job with plenty of human interaction. Together with the growers they coordinate the right volumes and logistical flow on a daily basis. Together we take the best possible care of all our fruit and vegetables from field to shelf.
