swa conference
Game plans for getting ahead Several speakers at the Scottish Wholesale Association’s annual conference explained how they are using the latest technology to gain a competitive edge. In a presentation entitled ‘Are Price, Quality, Choice and Service Enough?’, 3663’s group managing director Alex Fisher said that the £1.1bn turnover UK business intends to tap into parent company Bidvest’s impressive growth in Australasia which is attributed to the ecommerce trading platform, www.findfoodfast.com. FindFoodFast (and FindHospitalityFast) are virtual Bidvest branches available 24/7 online that give customers more control over their ordering. There is a multitude of features, including the complete product range available at the customer’s Bidvest warehouse, detailed product information, customer-specific pricing, order template creation and account information. Fisher pointed out that around half of Bidvest’s business in Australia and New Zealand now trades online and that orders placed online are, on average, 20% higher than offline orders. The cost of processing an order has been reduced by 62.5%, while the number of credits is down by 37%. Admin costs are also lower because customers can download invoices and run financial reports online. Meanwhile, customer uptake of new products has improved, as has the ability to accurately forecast stock requirements. “But more importantly it has helped to put them ahead of the competition,” said Fisher. “We are so impressed by the growth in Australasia,” he continued. “What’s next? iPhone and iPad apps are being rolled out, there is full EDI integration for customers where required, and Bidvest now owns the source code for FindFoodFast and has launched a software development company called Blue Pepper with the aim of rolling it out worldwide. We are going to embrace it.” Referring to the theme of a book by W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Fisher said that FindFoodFast was a Blue Ocean Strategy, in other words the process of differentiating a business. Quoting from the book, he said: “In today’s overcrowded industries, competing head-on results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. “Blue Ocean Strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.” Concluding, he said: “Are price, qual3663’s Alex Fisher: “We are going ity, choice and servto embrace FindFoodFast.” ice enough to keep
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• Cash & Carry Management • July 2012
ahead of the game? Probably not. In today’s world, they also need to be combined with Blue Ocean thinking.” United Wholesale (Scotland), which has increased its turnover from £35m in 2002 to £186m in 2011, currently services 240 Day-Today stores that attract 725,000 consumer shopping missions every week, stated managing director Asim Sarwar. “We are totally committed to supporting these retailers,” he said. “They get a visit from one of our business development managers at least once every three weeks and we help them with legislation and audits. We hold regular group training sessions and we have interactive websites – for the trade and for Day-Today consumers. We also support local charity.” United Wholesale (Scotland) is aiming for all its Day-Today members to be using EPOS within 18 months. It is also investing in key-fob scanners, picking productivity and web ordering technology. UWS’s Asim Sarwar: “We will drive Its technological consumers into Day-Today stores.” innovation, however, is utilising the 180,000-strong database of its subsidiary company todaysgreatdeal.com. Indeed, United Wholesale Scotland describes it as a ‘world’s first’. “The UK is the biggest in Europe for online shopping,” Sarwar pointed out. “It has seen a 46% increase in three years and is now a £44bn market. Furthermore, it is set to account for 12% of all sales by 2013.” With todaysgreatdeal.com, a daily ebulletin is sent out highlighting a deal from a local vendor with a minimum discount of 60%. The subscribers have 24 hours to buy the deal and between three and six months to redeem the coupon. The offers focus on Edinburgh and Glasgow. Following a successful trial with Cadbury at Easter, which attracted 8,000 hits, United Wholesale (Scotland) will be adding Day-Today grocery deals to the website from 25 July. These will be changed every three weeks, when a bespoke newsletter will also be sent out. “The subscriber can print and redeem the coupons any time during the three-week period, and the system allows us to put a limit on the number of coupons per deal and per customer. Subscribers can share the deal with friends by email, Facebook or Twitter,” said Sarwar, adding: “We will drive these consumers into our Day-Today stores.” United Wholesale (Scotland) is also investing in other areas of its business, such as opening a new bonded
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