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## Customers 

The Carlsberg Group fully recognises the critical importance of superior execution at the point of sale. Growing the beer category in both volume and value terms can only be achieved in close collaboration with our customers, not least in times of regulatory restrictions in several of our markets. 

This strategic lever has two priorities. 

## WIN WITH OUR CUSTOMERS 

We have an ambition to drive growth in the beer category in a profitable way. This can only be achieved by understanding customer and shopper drivers and having best-in-class value, key account and channel management. 

While all our customers are important to us, we want to primarily support and invest in winning customers with a principle of “invest for performance”. 

## EXCEL AT POINT-OF-SALE EXECUTION 

Excelling at the point of sale is becoming increasingly important in the beer industry. Carlsberg aims to develop best-in-class point-of-sale standards, including 

channel marketing capabilities and execution, commercial capability building and on-shelf availability. To ensure a high standard of per- formance across the Group, we will execute and measure wherever we do business. 

## SELECTED ACTIONS AND PROGRESS 2013 

In 2013, we continued the further roll-out of our value management programme. Value management is a Group-wide initiative that aims to drive category growth and market share to achieve “win-win” outcomes with our customers. Value management leverages customer, consumer and shop- per insights to drive commercial strategy and initiatives as well as optimise sales processes and tools. 

The key focus is on the value drivers of price management, assortment optimisation, promotional effectiveness and trade terms. Within this approach, we are also focused 

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on portfolio architecture by customer and channel. Our value management approach is being continuously developed and has been rolled out across regions, building on experiences from markets across the Group. 

In addition to value management, we have developed a global contract management tool for the on-trade channel enabling local markets to manage their many on-trade contracts in a structured way and further drive category development, customer satis- faction and management, and profitability. Furthermore, we are continuously improv- ing our key account capabilities, ranging 

from in-store execution programmes to joint business development initiatives. 

We joined forces to improve on-shelf availability, the launch of big innovations and the activation of promotional themes such as football or category development projects. In 2013, all key account sales people across the Group participated in key account capability programmes to further grow and strengthen their sales skills and competences. 

