Strengthening storage and logistics operations through BRCGS: A101’s journey

Turkey’s fastest growing retailer chooses BRCGS to strengthen its storage and logistics operations

A101 is one of the leading supermarket chains in Turkey. We selected the BRCGS Global Standard for Storage and Distribution to support our rapid growth and to manage our supply chain risk. With changing behaviour and the shift to direct to consumer delivery, we recognised how BRCGS certification can help us adapt to the shift in e-commerce and the evolving dynamics of logistics to continue to provide our customers with high quality products.

About A101

We were established in 2008 and have grown to one of the largest companies in Turkey. We employ 70,000 staff and operate more than 12,000 stores across all 81 districts of the country.

Our supply chains have become faster, more flexible and more customised to meet the needs of the 99% of households that we serve. With a network of 600 suppliers, certification to BRCGS is core to our food safety & quality operation to proactively manage risk and quality.

Why did they choose to gain certification?

Certification is the best way to demonstrate the competence of our operation and the value we place on quality assurance. We also believe in the power of competition and throughout our journey, we have strived to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

We chose the BRCGS certification programme as we trust their objectivity. The standards are easy to understand and use prescriptive language. They evolve to reflect market need, and are globally recognised and trusted throughout the world.

We are really proud to be the first BRCGS S&D certified retail market in our country.

Talk us through the process of implementing the Standard at A101

All of our quality team and warehouse operation teams were trained on the BRCGS standards first to familiarise ourselves with the requirements and the overall audit process. We carried out an internal exercise to determine where we had gaps and made the small modifications to our systems accordingly.

We ensured that our internal teams were aware of progress and involved them to keep them focused and highly motivated.

In the longer term as we continue our journey of continuous improvement, we recognised the value in using food safety and supplier quality management software to improve control of our compliance data.

What are the benefits of being BRCGS certificated?

The primary benefit of our certification is that it sends a clear message to our customers, partners and investors that food safety & quality is a priority, and that we perform to what is accepted to be the gold standard.

We are committed to quality assurance and will invest in improving continuously. As a certificated site, we have access to the BRCGS Service Package, which contains tools which will help us improve, achieve greater success, and get the best value from our certification.

We also use the BRCGS Directory to compare our performance in the sector, and as a shop window for customers seeking reliable suppliers.