If 2008 is going to be a success, wholesalers and suppliers are going to have to work better together, if our 2007 industry executive study is a guide to go by.
Wholesaling seems to be overly focused on trading rather than working together to grow sales, say 70% of suppliers, and even 41% of wholesalers. With such low margins, it's understandable that trading is very much on the agenda in wholesaling circles. But as someone once said: "To secure our future, we must secure our customers' future". Is enough time spent educating wholesalers' customers (retailers and caterers), to help them improve their businesses? Particularly when we learn that:
Retailers
l Most independent retailers do not follow planograms
l Many don't stock key selling lines
l A third say there isn't enough information around to help them grow sales
Caterers
l Most don't read the trade press
l A quarter never change their menus
l They want to learn about new product launches more than anything else.
The above are all good education and communication opportunities for wholesalers. And suppliers should work with or through wholesalers to exploit some of the facts above, because retailers and caterers trust wholesalers more to give impartial, unbiased advice.
Part of the problem is that wholesalers and suppliers view themselves, and each other, quite differently. Both parties appear to be working to different agendas and at a different pace. Are suppliers energetic and proactive? Not in the eyes of wholesalers. How customer focused are suppliers? Not very, say wholesalers. All fairly fundamental issues. Slanging matches and post-mortems rarely help - it usually requires better communication, at the right levels, better collaboration, and fulfilling obligations or agreed commitments on both sides. Falling short on agreed commitments appears to be the biggest criticism on both sides, from passing conversations I've had. This clearly needs to be looked at. Only then can trust be built leading to more effective partnerships and more profitable growth. It seems a shame not to at least try.
As for 2008, I have read many articles this week from retail gurus saying this is the year when healthy foods are really going to explode on the scene. Surely this creates a massive opportunity for wholesalers to work together with suppliers to exploit this growing consumer demand - could wholesalers have a dedicated healthy food stuff zone in cash and carries or in PLOFs?
Then I read that visits to McDonalds had grown sales in the UK by 12% in 2007 (and it's not salads or kiwi fruit these additional 10 million customers are buying), that the UK is now rivalling America for junk food intake, and I realise that it isn't all about health.
Increasingly it's about enjoying an indulgent lifestyle of cutting back one day, going overboard the next. Consumer needs are changing. Are retailers and caterers staying abreast of these changes? Are wholesalers keeping retailers and caterers abreast of these changes?
Happy trading in 2008, oops, happy trading and happy collaboration in 2008.
Will Government proposals to ban the display of tobacco in retail premises damage the wholesale sector?
