John Kinney is the managing director at Unitas
PH: What has been your most significant achievement over the past 12 months?
JK: Our unparalleled scale has enabled Unitas to grow the income passed to members by 35% since its formation in 2019, with a 17% increase in 2023 alone. Last year saw value and volume increases in the retail, foodservice and on-trade channels, and market-beating growth in nearly every category. It’s been an incredible five years and this is just the start.
What is your unique selling point?
Unlike other wholesale groups, Unitas is owned by its members who are shareholders. They are at the heart of everything we do. Our vision, our strategy and the service we provide are all developed from listening to the needs of independent wholesalers.
They tell us they want a strong value proposition, supply chain efficiency, help achieving their sustainability goals, and access to the cost-saving benefits of our central services. So, that’s what we plan to give them over the year ahead.
What are your plans to help members over the next 12 months?
Everything we do is led by our members. Being part of the largest player in the market when setting terms with suppliers means our members can offer their customers the best possible prices to compete with multiples and discounters, as well as access a range to suit every shelf or menu.
We back that up with an incredible promotional calendar and through-the-line marketing support. We also help wholesalers cut their operating costs, whether that’s by using their combined strength to get fantastic rates on consumables like energy, merchant cards and packaging, or optimising their supply chain and financial transactions.
Number of members: 145
Latest members: Hopwells
Group Buying Power: £8.5bn
Our trading team work closely with suppliers on terms and promotional programmes and help them understand the massive opportunities in wholesale; we have the marketing and merchandising skills to make members’ promotional activity really pop with their customers and consumers; and we have our commercial and finance teams providing speedy payments and support, which would cost wholesalers a fortune to access individually.
Part of our role is to bring suppliers and wholesalers together not only to trade, but to share knowledge and build relationships.
We’ve just had our biggest and most successful trade show ever, and this year’s programme also involves meet-the-member days and one of the wholesale sector’s must-attend events – the Unitas conference in Vilamoura, Portugal, in September.
What are the biggest challenges for your members over the next 12 months?
The cost of living remains high for most consumers, so the challenge for our members is to make sure their customers have a strong value proposition, with the prices, products, packs, price-marks and promotions that attract and reassure shoppers. That’s where the scale and service of Unitas comes into its own. Our message to suppliers is that they can reach around 180,000 retail, foodservice and on-trade outlets through the Unitas group, and generate millions of consumer interactions with their brands.
All that is opened up to them through our Support Centre as their single point of contact. It’s the same for our members; with unrivalled buying power plus the support of the central team, they are stronger together and will take on the challenges of the coming year together.
Read more: Unitas procurement service saving 38% on business expenditure
