This month, Better Wholesaling is being distributed at the IGD Wholesaling 2013 conference. The three key themes of the day are: customer engagement, online ordering and the rise of private-labels.
These themes should all be on your radar, so we’ve given them a ‘nod’ in this month’s content. On page 10, IGD’s senior analyst Patrick Mitchell-Fox argues that the benefits of social media are yet to be quantified. Meanwhile, Martin Williams at Landmark (page 18) and Craig O’Connor at DeeBee (page 22) discuss the value of own-label lines to their businesses. Later on in the issue, our new technology writer Jason Finch considers what moving online means to wholesale (page 20).
A fourth theme we’d like to throw into the arena is about diversification. Wholesalers of all shapes and sizes are changing, adapting and expanding to offer retailers and caterers the ultimate one-stop shop. We’re seeing grocery wholesalers step into foodservice and non-licensed operators move into on-trade, meanwhile on-trade specialists open their doors to general grocery.
Diversification may be a good survival tool: if you give
customers everything they want, why would they go anywhere else? But before chasing new business, beware you don’t neglect what you’re best at. In the words of HT & Co Drinks’ Prakash Thakrar, “Look after your ‘marriage’
with a retailer before thinking about having babies” (page 24).
