Constructing an ethical operation from the ground up How to manage a business that puts sustainability, mental heath and diversity at the forefront
energy bill support for businesses after March 2023.
Also, by requiring the public sector to operate within the constraints of the March spending review, this essentially means inflation will need to be absorbed.
There was one shining light in the form of business rate support –however, the FWD has stated that it is still unclear whether the wholesale sector will be eligible for it.
After what has been an extremely tough 2022, wholesalers now face a difficult winter, with the chancellor’s Autumn Statement adding further costs and confusion to the industry.
As well as doing little to relieve the pressure on the food supply chain, it provided no clarity on the support available to the sector as it enters its busiest period of the year.
At the time of writing, inflation is at 11.1% and food price inflation at 16.4%, and Jeremy Hunt’s statement gave no further information on
EDITORIAL
Editor Paul Hill
Editor in chief Louise Banham
Head of design
Anne-Claire Pickard
Production editor Ryan Cooper
Sub editors Jim Findlay, Robin Jarossi
Designer Jody Cooke
Contributors David Gilroy, Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski, Rob Mannion, Charles Smith
Production coordinator Chris Gardner
Despite these extremely trying circumstances, wholesalers must now, more than ever, remain on a sustainable path and continue to improve their operations on an ethical and social level.
This report includes everything needed to achieve this, with tips, information, guides and data to help move wholesale operations towards a green future.
The report also features my meetings with three forwardthinking wholesalers who each have sustainability at the forefront of every business decision. If you’d be interested in me visiting your facility, please get in touch.
SALES
Head of commercial Natalie Reeve 020 7689 3372
Senior account director Charlotte Jesson 020 7689 3389
Account manager Marie Dickens 020 7689 3366
Senior account managers Barry Lavis 020 7689 3372
Lindsay Hudson 020 7689 3366
Commerical project manager Ifzal Afzal 020 7689 3382
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REPORT P6-7 Viewpoint
Wholesale needs to keep pace with society on sustainability
P8 Opinion
What does Open Banking mean for wholesalers?
P10-11 Profile
Dunsters Farm’s MD talks through recent developments
P12-13 Data
The results of a diversity and inclusion survey
P14-17 Information JTI UK’s guide to being a sustainable wholesaler
P18-20 Profile
We took a visit to JL Brooks to find out its latest news
P21 Spotlight
GrowUp Farms discusses its sustainable offering
P22-23 Profile
LWC on how it continues to evolve its unique proposition
P24-25 Insight
How the SWA is helping its members pivot to a sustainable future
P26-27 Summary
Five ways wholesalers can run a more ethical and sustainable operation
CATEGORY ADVICE P3 E-commerce survey Ferrero presents the results of e-commerce in wholesale survey
P4-5 Working Together project How SBF and Holland Bazaar have partnered on a promotion
P27 Column Ferrero gives its opinion on e-commerce in wholesale
P28-29 Project
Britvic and Bestway are working together to grow sales of Rockstar
P30 Spotlight
SalesOut explains how it’s helping wholesalers grow sales
Better Wholesaling Insight's publisher Newtrade Media cares about the environment.
Better Wholesaling Insight is published by Newtrade Media Limited, which is wholly owned by NFRN Holdings Ltd, which is wholly owned by the Benefits Fund of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents. Reproduction or transmission in part or whole of any item from Better Wholesaling may only be undertaken with the prior written agreement of the Editor. Contributions are welcomed and are included in part or whole at the sole discretion of the editor. Newtrade Media Limited accepts no responsibility for submitted material. Every possible care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information.
P31-34 Sector review
All of the latest trends and developments within hot beverages
P36-39 Sector review
A round up of the latest news in the confectionery category
Over recent months, we’ve collaborat ed with Ferrero to better understand wholesalers’ long-term e-commerce strategies and their general sentiment towards digital. In order to do so, we surveyed over 50 wholesalers through phone calls and email communication.
and resources.
of wholesalers surveyed have an e-commerce plan in place
The findings show that whole salers are very positive, with a substantial majority saying they believe it is going to domi nate selling in the next three-tofive years.
However, a slight majority also said it hit its peak during the pandemic, and 62% said it will grow, but only with support
More than 65% said they had an e-commerce plan of some sort, and 50% claimed to have plans to develop it beyond the next year. Almost all have seen a substantial change in online ordering in the past year, with a massive majority seeing it increase and just under 10% saying it had stayed the same.
On data, almost 75% of wholesalers report that they do share data of some kind, but only 16.6% claim to be fully transparent.
The majority share data only with their key suppliers. We’ve seen that wholesalers in theory believe that e-commerce has po tential, but is the optimism shared across stakeholders?
• Wholesalers think e-commerce has a place, and most are planning for an e-commerce future
• The majority of wholesalers have seen an increase in online ordering in the past 12 months
• Weekdays appear to be the most active time for online ordering
• While wholesalers are optimistic about e-commerce, most believe it will only grow if there is more industry support
• Wholesalers only share data with key suppliers, regardless of their views or individual plans for e-commerce – this is the case across the UK
Digital is an essential platform that all forward-thinking wholesal ers should embrace, as demand through digital will only increase. Ensure accurate product representation and collaborate with key stakeholders to ensure you maximise the opportunity that such sales platforms offer.
Customers are increasingly expecting an e-commerce service and smaller wholesalers are making the jump to digital. With a variety of off-the-shelf platforms that help them start and build frame works, e-commerce is now at the forefront of strategy planning in the sector.
75% either ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ e-commerce will be the key form of selling within next three-to-five years
85% have seen online ordering increase over the past 12 months
35% only share their insight and data with key suppliers
82% of the wholesalers who don’t plan to develop their e-commerce offering still don’t think it will decline in the next three-to-five years
53% of those who saw their online ordering stay the same or decline in the past year still believe it will be the key form of selling in next three-to-five years l
Paul Hill finds out how SBF GB&I and Holland Bazaar are working together on a World Cup brand activation
Brand activations have always performed well in whole sale, and with the World Cup now in full swing, SBF GB&I recently took the opportunity to run a promotion in Holland Bazaar’s Peterborough depot around this uniquely-timed tournament.
“It’s great to be here in Peterborough to work with the Holland Bazaar team and discuss our new Lucozade Sport promotion,” said Joe Kinsey, national account manager at Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I (SBF GB&I). “It’s being activated around this year’s World Cup and will help wholesalers drive soft drinks sales this winter. It will also help to capture attention and drive sales for wholesalers, especially for such a big, month-long event such as the World Cup.”
The brand activation is seeing Lucozade Sport bring shoppers the chance to win cash prizes this winter through a text-to-win promotion, as part of its ongoing partnership with the England national football team. “This giveaway will help wholesaler customers to create excite ment around the international tournament in their stores and tap into additional sales around the winter sporting occasion, with SBF GB&I giving football fans the chance to win £90 every 90 minutes,” added Chris Dunster, regional account manager at SBF GB&I.
“Lucozade Sport drinks are already performing really well here at Holland Bazaar, and the added bonus of a World Cup promotion will only increase sales further,” explained Andrew Kirby, commercial director at Holland Bazaar. “It’s also great to introduce something like
this into the depot to create a buzz around the place.”
Kinsey then explained how 2022 has already been a fantastic year for sport, and as the UK’s number-one-selling sports drink1, Lucozade Sport wanted to bring something special to depots to help them make the most of the unique opportunity to combine sport and winter festiv ities this year. “A recent takeover such as this in one wholesale depot saw sales uplift of more than 180% of Lucozade drinks compared to the previous week, so we know it really works for wholesalers,” he said.
Dunster was also on hand to provide further data which shows the strength of in-depot activations: “Promoting partnerships such as this in cash and carries is key, with bespoke front-of-depot display being proven to lead to sales uplifts of 5%, while a depot fixture relay can increase sales by a massive 91%.”
“It’s been great having SBF GB&I here in Peterborough to talk about the Lucozade Sport World Cup promotion. Meetings like this are great for not only us, but our retailers and their customers,” concluded Kirby, with Kinsey agreeing it’s always good to travel around and visit wholesale customers. “Days like this not only enables us to understand their needs better, but it also enables us to help them and their retailers become more successful in the soft drinks category.”
To be in with a chance of winning, shoppers need to purchase any Lucozade Sport product and text ‘CASH’ to 62123. The campaign will be supported by PR and marketing across wholesale.
We’re always more than happy to welcome the SBF GB&I team to Peterborough. These days are great for us to learn from them about the latest activations and the soft drinks category, which we’re then able to pass onto our retailers to help boost their sales, too.
National account manager, Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I
The Lucozade Sport portfolio is growing by an incredible 32%2, so by tapping into relevant moments like the World Cup, wholesalers and retailers can see real results. In-depot activation such as this adds theatre to retailers’ journeys.
• The Lucozade Sport portfolio is growing by 32%2
• Bespoke front-of-depot displays have been proven to lead to sales uplifts of 5%
• A depot fixture relay can increase sales by 91%3
• A recent takeover in one wholesale depot saw sales uplift of more than 180% of Lucozade products com pared to the previous week3
• The partnership with the England team will give football fans the chance to win £90 every 90 minutes during the World Cup
1Nielsen GB Total Coverage Latest 52 Weeks – w/e 26.02.22, 2Nielsen, Lucozade Sport, GB Total Coverage including discounters, latest 52 weeks to 01.10.22, 3EPoS data from SalesOut, SBF GB&I Activation Uplift report, 2021
Sad, I know, but I love my mobile device. Managing all aspects of my life on the move: communication, nav igation, finances, research and acquiring lots of new friends. Dr Lee has located a long-lost uncle of mine who has bequeathed $10m to me in his will. All I have to do is send him my account details and he will go halves on the proceeds. Mr Smeaton has ar ranged for me to enjoy an upfront pay ment of £400 towards my energy bill. He also simply needs my bank details. And Curtis has kindly checked all my household appliance insurances. He is concerned my washing machine cover is inadequate, so is kindly recommending a five-year plan. “But hold on,” I say to Curtis. “The machine is over eight years old. Why would I waste money insuring it? Next time it breaks down, I’m going to junk it and buy a new one.”
Herein lies one of the fundamental issues with today’s society. We are completely wedded to convenience, dis posal and consumerism. The concept of
having my machine fixed is totally alien and economically non-viable. When did you last see a TV repair man? No, nor me. However, all is not lost. There are signs that things are turning. Jay Blade’s The Repair Shop on BBC is a brilliant showcase for the revival of trade craft skills and for the art of repairing and renovating. Websites like Facebook Marketplace are great for buying and selling previously loved items (second hand to the rest of us).
Okay, some need fixing or cleaning, but better that than sending to landfill. I confess I am addicted to it. I have even sold half-cans of paint. How do you dispose of paint without polluting?
The conundrum facing us all is whether continuous economic growth is compat ible with extracting and destroying parts of Earth and its finite resources. Envi ronmentalists and economists argue the green agenda and the transition to net zero will itself create many economic opportunities.
Macroeconomics is way above my pay grade, but I am clear that the route to a sustainable future will be from the bottom up, not from the top down.
Small incremental steps taken by businesses and individuals making a difference. This is elegantly argued by Solitare Townsend, a sustainability ex pert in an article for the National Trust (NT). Almost three-quarters of the land cared for by NT is vulnerable to climate change and changing weather patterns.
Solitaire’s article details the impressive work underway to prepare the various
landscapes for the changes ahead. NT has a clear and tangible plan to be net zero in all their operations by 2030.
She talks about NT seeing problems and responding with “excitement to the solutions”. She calls this being “solu tionists”. A great starting point with relevance for our industry.
In an article in last year’s December edition of BWI, I set out what I called my “commercially based sustainability starter pack” for wholesalers. Six main elements of focus for even the most resource-constrained enterprises to start their sustainability journey: energy; vehicle fuel; food waste; packaging/ recycling; product selection; and people; selected to add value to the bottom line.
Work in these areas will involve only small capital investments – if any – while yielding significant financial benefits. I urge every business to nom inate a sustainability champion. This is a good first step on the sustainability road, but if you want to see the job done brilliantly, check out Bidfoods’ website and read its latest sustainability report, ‘Future Forward’. This comprehensive
We are completely wedded to convenience, disposal and consumerism
Gilroy’s viewpoint: We live in a throw-away society, but sustainability is moving quickly up the list of everyday concerns for consumers and service providers. Businesses need to be keeping paceDavid Gilroy is the founder and managing director of Store Excel
missive offers some great lessons and demonstrates that Bidfood puts sustaina bility at the heart of its business, from the top, permeating through and owned at all levels. It includes measurable targets with objective performances actually achieved and with the future actions for improvement.
There is a commercial imperative, too. In a Sunday Times article about B Corps, Martha Lane Fox stated that cus tomers were demanding more transpar ency on the origins and environmental footprint of products and services.
We are all becoming more aware of plastic dependency in our everyday lives. Centred around the products we consume in food, drink, cleaners and packaging. In her article for the i newspaper, Emma Henderson details how she tried to shop plastic-free for a week. Despite a valiant and committed attempt, Emma concluded it was too inconvenient and expensive to be realis tically possible. Picture the distribution of soft drinks in PET bottles, shrinkwrapped in outers, and then plastic-pal let-wrapped for transport – three layers
of plastic to get goods to market. The plastic challenge requires cross-sector partnerships and cooperation.
WRAP leads the way. Established in 2000, its vision is a “thriving world in which climate change is no longer a problem”. Fine words, but they do have substance? WRAP has detailed plans and actions to support this statement around changing the way goods are produced, consumed and disposed of.
WRAP has developed impressive resources and expertise across business es, governments, NGOs (non-govern mental organisations) and funding. and has mastered ways of uniting multiple sectors and interests behind a common cause. In 2018, WRAP established the ‘Plastic Pact’. This is an action-centred collaboration across supermarkets, brands, packaging and recycling centres geared to creating a sustainable system for plastics. Based on the principle that everything should be reused or recycled, the Plastic Pact has achieved notable progress, including 10% less plastic on supermarket shelves and a 46% fall in problematic plastics since 2018. Major brands such as Coca-Cola and Ribena are active participants.
The refillable offering is also proving a tough nut to crack and is still experi mental. Tesco junked Loop earlier this year. In an update entitled ‘Store les sons’, Asda’s Susan Thomas talks about the supermarket’s partnership with WRAP and its refill store trials. Asda has learned the ways customers engage with the proposition, the challenge of paying for goods by gram and the value expectation of lower pricing, but her update is short on tangible results.
Lidl has just reported it is trialling refill machines for its Formil detergent pouches in two stores. Customers can pick up empty pouches, choose their favourite detergents via touch screens and fill their pouches. The machines can distinguish between new and used pouches, and offer customers 20p dis counts when refilling. This seems like a good starting point.
“Recycling is not the solution. We need to fundamentally change our relation ship with plastic packaging,” says Dizzie, which is focused on leading the transition from single-use plastic to reusable packaging, end to end. Its re search indicates that reusable packaging is set to disrupt a $2tn global grocery packaging market. Three factors support this assertion: increasing consumer demand for reduction (83% of those surveyed); tougher global legislation to drive down use of packaging materials; and the availability uncertainty and rising costs of packaging.
Dizzie has created and operates a direct-to-home infrastructure of re sponsibly sourced products with smart, affordable packaging.
The model consists of packaging, product fill (about 500 products and growing), returns recovery operations from homes and cleaning for reuse across 13 dedicated hubs. Dizzie is still in start-up mode, but is heading rapidly towards being self-sustaining, and is seeking B2B distribution partners.
The UK has just experienced its hot test recorded summer, and the country is facing profound adverse economic changes, many accelerated by the con flict in Ukraine. These impacts bring the intelligent use of resource man agement into sharp relief. Now, more than ever, is a good time to become solutionists for sustainability. l
Open Banking ena bles wholesalers to accept pay ment via bank transfer, and is an extremely secure means of payment, offering two principal advantages compared with debit, credit or corporate credit cards.
Firstly, it is much cheaper when compared with the cost associated with processing pay ments from cards.
Secondly, payments are received quicker, with payments arriving in bank accounts within seconds, compared with two-to four days for card payments.
It can be incorporated into various areas of your business, offering an enhanced audit trail of when payments are made and by whom. Payments can be asso ciated with specific invoices, re ducing the overheads associated with reconciling accounts, while finance teams can be notified via
email when payments have been made, by whom, and to which invoice it relates – further reduc ing costs and increasing green credentials.
For wholesale businesses, Open Banking adds most value as a replacement for card payments. Think of the process in terms of a roadmap or journey, which may look something like this.
This is relatively straightforward. You need to have an accounts section within your e-commerce where customers can see what they owe, and view previous invoices.
Once these features are ena bled, you are able to integrate an Open Banking capability that enables customers to pay off balances or invoices. Enhanced functionality can also be intro duced, such as deploying the abil ity to pay off multiple invoices.
QR codes can be automatically added to customers’ invoices. When customers scan the QR code, their banking app opens and the value of the invoice is auto-populated in the app.
The recipient’s banking details are also entered automatically. All your customer has to do is click ‘send’ and the money arrives in your account.
In parallel, your accounts team receives an email stating that monies have been received, who the sender is and which invoice the payment relates to.
Accepting payments in depot and at the point of delivery becomes more challenging, as they are processed in real-time and often
in full view of other customers.
Here, a real-time connection between Open Banking and your bank is needed so that as soon as the payment has landed – which should take milliseconds – your staff are notified that the transac tion is then complete.
The receivables process is often slow and clunky, managed by internal resources and with the added challenge of the majori ty of payments being made on account.
Open Banking can add sig nificant value when requests for payment are incorporated into automated digital notifications sent to your customers, based on the specific payment terms of an invoice or account. l
We’re proud to be leading the industry in Great Britain, introducing attached caps across our entire portfolio* making it easier to collect and recycle the whole package and ensure no cap gets left behind. The change is another step on Coca-Cola’s journey towards a World Without Waste, helping to reduce waste, prevent litter and support the creation of a circular economy for our PET packaging.
Starting life as a milk round in 1963 by Les Ratcliffe in the family’s home town of Bury, Dunsters Farm has evolved into a multimillion-pound business still run by the same family and based in the same town.
Following Ratcliffe’s daughter Elizabeth and her husband Jeremy taking the reins four decades ago, the business shifted its focus into the education sector and soon became a leading provider for schools across the north of England. Then came the next de velopmental stage for the compa ny, with Ratcliffe’s grandchildren, Hannah Barlow and Tom Mathew, joining the business in 2014.
They oversaw a period in which Dunsters had its eye set firmly on the digital age while maintaining its position as one of the most forward-thinking wholesalers in the UK.
Now delivering to more than
800 customers in a multitude of sectors throughout the north of England, managing director Hannah Barlow talked us through the latest developments at the busi ness in five key areas.
HB: “I feel as though we have it within our DNA at Dunsters due to our philanthropic grandad, who won an MBE for exactly that. We want to extend that legacy, and provide employment to local peo ple and the community. Next year is our 60th year as a business, and we want to be around for another 60 years after that.
“We’re currently working on a road to net zero, and although we’re aware it’s not going to happen overnight, we are gradu ally working to that as our target. For example, we ask any new
supplier we take on about their sustainability credentials. I also feel the pandemic has sped up how people look at their ethical choices and are now more aware of work ing with responsible companies. For example, we recently got asked how many of our suppliers were B-Corp.”
“We have an employee group called Thinking Forward in which we discuss and develop ways for the business to be better. We also have a mental-health helpline available to our staff. It’s confi dential and the only information we receive is the number of people that have used it annually.
“We also became a Living Wage Employer last year, which was a big step for us. Tom [Mathew] and I really wanted to do this.
Wholesale wages have historically been typically low, but it benefits us in two ways. First, it shows that we’re bothered about our team and care about them getting a fair wage, especially considering the situation of the world at the moment. Second, it’s great from a recruitment perspective, and helps set us apart in what is currently a tough market.”
“We’ve always wanted to expand into frozen, and, before lockdown, we started to plan for the installa tion of a freezer at our Bury depot. However, we were approached around the same time by the previous owner of The Little Food Company. It already had a similar customer base to us – heavily into education – and also run its com
pany very much like ours as a fam ily business, so quite a lot of the same values were already in place. It dawned on us that, because The Little Food Company was only 90 minutes away, it made complete sense to acquire the company. It’s working out well.
“The Little Food Company has a wealth of experience in the frozen sector, and it enables us to launch a new category to our customers.”
“It’s been brilliant so far, and it’s a key part of the next stage in our journey. It allows you to benefit from being part of such a collabo rative group with every managing director on the other end of the phone if you need them for advice or help with anything.
“Caterforce also offers a lot more than just the buying power, such as its marketing team and photography studio. Caterforce’s buying expertise enables us to strengthen our position and increase the range we offer our customers, including our new frozen lines.”
“We’re looking to launch a fully fledged e-commerce solution by the end of February next year, and we’re working with the company Foodservice Online for that. We've also recently changed our hours of operation and are now pretty much 24 hours.
“Quite a lot of behind-thescenes infrastructural work had to take place for this to work, and we’re really excited about it.” l
Adiversity and in clusion survey has revealed that the number of women working at board level in UK retail and foodservice wholesale has increased from 11% to 20% over the past six years.
However, the research revealed that equal opportunities formed the biggest disparity between male and female responses, with only 57% of females agreeing that “all people can succeed in my organisation”, compared with 80% of men.
Agreement to the same state ment was just 50% among people with a disability. Meanwhile, 60% of women agreed that they “trust my organisation to be fair to all employees”, versus 80% of men.
Commissioned by Women in Wholesale (WiW) and conduct ed by TWC, it looked into the
progress made since the launch of the WiW initiative and the figures were shared at the WiW Annual Conference in London, where more than 250 delegates from wholesalers and their suppliers gathered. The open survey was conducted across the whole sector between 26 August-14 September 2022 and was totally anonymous.
“Diverse organisations grow faster and are more profitable,” said Tanya Pepin, managing di rector at TWC. “That’s why it’s so important to have this industryspecific insight, which will help to get some important conversations around diversity and inclusion started in our sector.”
“This ground-breaking study shines a positive light on the progress being made in our sector – as well as helping us to identify where we can improve,” added WiW founder Elit Rowland. l
• There has been an 82% rise in women in board-level positions in UK wholesale (20% in 2022 vs 11% in 2016)
• Broadly, there is positive sentiment across the industry regarding diversity and inclusion
• A conversation has begun and there is now a benchmark for future comparison
• Wholesale remains behind other industries in the percentage of women in board-level leadership roles (benchmark: 29%)
• 14% of respondents disagree that they are included in decisions that affect them at work – rising to 23% working in ‘staff’ roles
• Women are less likely to agree that everyone in an organisation can succeed and are less likely to trust their employers to be fair
• Those with a disability are less likely to be comfortable reporting something wrong at work
• Wholesalers should now consider surveying their own workforce to see how their organisation compares to the industry benchmark
• The survey findings will inform the WiW 2023 education and discussion programme
Alongside its own efforts to globally become carbon neutral by 2030 and net zero by 2050, JTI UK has been supporting wholesalers to implement sustainable practices in the form of a four-part sustainability series.
For part 1 of the series, JTI UK, as well as the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA), focused on energy; advising wholesalers on the key actions they can implement within their businesses, relating to lighting and heating, refrigeration, alternative energy sources and water usage.
Energy savings are the bread and butter of any sustainability plan and once a wholesale operation has re-evaluated and managed its energy sources in a more sustainable way, it will allow the business to continue on a greener path and implement more changes.
THAT:
o Only 7% of wholesalers said sustainability wasn’t a priority for their business.
o 93% of wholesalers want more support from suppliers on sustain ability.
o One of the most popular sustain ability initiatives currently being carried out by wholesalers is energy saving measures (94.3%).
Sustainability director, JTI UK
We are committed to identifying, understanding and reducing the environmental impact of our business activities. We also understand how important it is to support wholesalers as they become more sustainable. It has never been more important for companies to think and act sustaina bly, not just for the good of the indus try, but for society.
o Gather employee suggestions – a company-wide survey is a great way to gather suggestions from the peo ple who know your operation best.
o Make the switch – replace light switches with motion sensors and install LED lightbulbs and display screens in depot.
o Consider renewable generation –think about the return on investment if you have solar panels installed.
Head of sustainability & engagement, SWA
Ensuring our sector is using energy efficiently is a crucial step on the net-zero journey and is an opportu nity for members to remain competi tive during this difficult time. As part of our current project, the SWA will work with members and carbonreduction specialists to establish a baseline on energy usage and carbon emissions from our buildings.
o Changing regulation – make sure you’re up to date with the latest legislation.
o Re-evaluation – keep checking your energy sources for potential improvements.
o Supply chain – check your sup pliers hold the same sustainable values as your business.
For part two of the series, JTI UK supported wholesalers with waste-management tips, including input from the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD). JTI UK advised wholesalers on the key actions they can implement within their businesses relating to waste-reduction measures, reusing procedure and recycling.
There is a huge appetite for change in the industry, and waste management is vital to any sustainability plan. Having an eco-friendly and efficient waste strategy in place is a key step towards sustainability for any wholesale operation.
By 2023, JTI UK plans to no longer send any operational waste to landfill and expects its suppliers to do the same by 2025.
Forbes Sustainability director, JTI UK
We’re serious about protecting the environment, which is why, by 2023, we plan to no longer send any of our UK operational waste to landfill. In fact, we aim to reach a 75% recycling rate by 2030. But we know that our role in sustainable waste manage ment goes beyond that. We’re keen to support wholesalers with their own efforts to reduce waste.
Waste reduction is an issue where the entire supply chain has to work together, and wholesalers want to be leading that collaboration. Some very serious discussions are needed about how much food and packaging we produce, where it comes from, where it goes to, and how much avoidable wastage is currently built into our offer to consumers.
o 64.2% cited cost saving as the biggest business value they’ve seen from their sustainability investments.
o The most popular sustainability initiative currently being carried out by wholesalers is recycling (98.1%).
o 64% of independent/convenience retailers want more sustainable point-of-sale material.
o Create a retailer recycling dropoff – allowing retailers to return wholesale packaging is a great way to demonstrate your sustainability credentials to customers.
o Digitise your paperwork – from invoices to payslips, going digital both reduces paper waste and makes record-keeping easier.
o Review internal recycling pro cesses – make sure recycling bins are easily accessible and ensure all material is properly disposed of.
o Staff training – you’ll need to make sure all employees are following procedure.
o Getting retailer buy-in – make sure retailers are aware of your recycling drop-off launch and why it’s a good idea for them to bring packaging back.
o Collaboration with contractors –speak with your waste contractors about tricky waste streams to see what the most responsible disposal method is.
To
For part three of the series, JTI UK, as well as the SWA, focused on transport; advising wholesalers on the key actions they can implement within their businesses, relating to delivery vehicles, business travel and employee commutes.
There is a huge appetite for change in the industry, and transport is one of the key areas where change is easy to measure, relatively easy to implement and can add tangible benefit to a wholesaler’s sustainability credentials.
The SWA, like JTI UK, has already taken measures to improve its transport sustainability and has been invited to join the Scottish government’s new Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, where it is working in partnership to explore opportunities and co-design creative solutions for zero-emission trucks.
Transport is an important area where sustainability improvements can be made, so we’ve invested in hybrid vehicles and charging points for our team of Business Advisers, who visit key accounts, wholesalers and independent stores each day. Fortyfour per cent of our Business Adviser team now drive hybrid cars, and by the end of 2023 this will reach 100%.
o From 2024, JTI UK plans to start transitioning its salesforce fleet to fully electric cars, which, by 2030, would save 776 tonnes of CO2e emissions per year.
o The SWA is aiming for net-zero vehicle emissions for the Scottish wholesale industry fleet by 2045.
o In 2023, JTI UK intends to roll out 1:1 eco-driver training to its salesforce.
o Maximise your fuel efficiency –whether it’s through switching your vehicles or training your drivers, targeting fuel efficiency will reduce your emissions and cut costs simultaneously.
o Utilise cage deliveries – this will help avoid the use of single-use plastic in shrink wrapping.
o Review order and delivery frequency – consider whether it is possible to hold more stock.
In 2021, SWA launched its Decarbonisation of the Wholesale Industry project. Our first priorities were the creation of a sector Fleet Emissions Baseline report and Emissions Reductions Roadmap. The Roadmap provides information on the options available to the sector in tackling vehicle emissions, starting with improving fuel efficiency.
o Implementing driver training – it’s important to invest time ensuring drivers fully understand the bene fits of fuel-efficient driving.
o Cost of fleet upgrades – improving fuel efficiency requires investment but will save in the long-term.
o Working with external stakehold ers – make sure customers are fully aligned with any changes, such as digital invoicing and cage deliveries.
For part four of the series, JTI UK, as well as the FWD, focused on social sustainabili ty; advising wholesalers on the key actions they can implement within their business es, relating to community activity.
Social sustainability is an important part of JTI UK’s responsible business approach. The company is committed to addressing social and environmental challenges within the communities it operates in. JTI UK works in long-term partnerships with charities that promote inclusion for less-advantaged adults or protect the environment.
Volunteering is embedded in the company’s culture and JTI UK empowers employees to choose their own organisations to support. Since 2008, JTI UK employees have volunteered 37,687 hours of their time to help others, contributing to their local communities.
o Since 2008, JTI UK has donated £40m to charitable causes.
o JTI UK relaunched its Volunteering Policy this year. This included in creasing its employee volunteering allowance to 50 hours (six days+) per employee, per year.
o Since 2008, JTI UK employees have volunteered 37,687 hours of their time to local communities.
At JTI UK, community investment is an important part of our sustainable business approach. As a company, we contribute to the communities in which we operate, and we are committed to addressing social and environmental challenges. We believe that everyone should have access to resources and the opportu nity to reach their potential.
o Communicate with customers and key stakeholders to research the most pressing community issues.
o Collaborate with expert partners and co-create initiatives to tackle key social issues.
o Share – spread the word to encourage more people to get involved and work together.
Wholesale is entwined with the communities it serves, through con venience stores, pubs and restaurants, and services such as care homes and schools. Whatever communities want, we deliver, and as the public’s attitudes drift towards sustainability, so do our members’. We don’t expect to see wholesalers using the econom ic crisis to let standards slip.
o Impact measurement – set targets, it’s vital to understand the difference you are making.
o Employee engagement – your programme is more likely to be a success if your employees are behind it.
o Making changes – don’t be afraid to try new things to improve your sustainability performance.
DL: JL Brooks was originally es tablished in 1920 by Ernest Lesley Brooks, who called himself Jack, hence the name JL Brooks. He left the Navy after the Great War and began the business of wholesaling hams from his motorbike and side car in Hunslet to local shops in the Leeds area.
Before the Second World War, JL Brooks moved to warehousing in Farsley and the business contin ued to grow and trade throughout the war supplying wholesale provisions to grocery shops. After Jack’s death in 1957, his wife and daughter [Madelyn] ran the com pany until 1959, when Madelyn’s sons joined the family business.
They continued wholesaling to the licensed trade and local shops until 2005, when they decided to retire, and the business was bought by me.
I’ve looked to expand and grow it, and now employ 32 people with a fleet of 15 vans delivering across parts of the UK. In 2007, we moved to a larger modern warehousing in Calverley, Leeds.
By 2011, we had outgrown the building again, and had to move to Armley, where we chose premises that were four times the size in the hope we wouldn’t run out of space for a while.
However, these 20,000sq ft premises are filling up and we’re now working with commercial property agents to find some where new to base ourselves, hopefully in the Leeds area.
We also opened a depot in Hull, which we took on 12 months ago,
which makes everything a lot eas ier when it comes to distribution. It was already a wholesale depot, so it was very easy to merge it into JL Brooks.
It’s quite a wide range. We supply to pubs, clubs, golf and sports clubs, sandwich shops, newsa gents, garages and gyms, but our biggest customer is the general public using the website.
Our website says: ‘Discover the benefits of shopping wholesale, even if you’re not a business’, which I think sums it up pretty nicely, and this B2C service has done well for us.
We lost a large amount of our customer base overnight, which is when we made the decision to properly focus on the website and delivering to the general public.
It then got up to 1,500-plus orders a week online and went ab solutely bonkers. So, what we lost there, we made back up on the other side of it. We already had online ordering and were open to the general public anyway, so it was easy to implement.
It was difficult when we had our drivers on furlough, and it was a struggle when the internet ordering picked up and took a lot of organising. We even had to set up packing desks around the warehouse because we were so busy. It’s all worked out well, however, and our turnover has
What has happened since you acquired it in 2005?
Alongside our own efforts to globally become carbon neutral by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050, we are continuing to provide advice to support wholesalers to implement sustainable practices – from reducing energy consumption to improving social sustainability.
Here at JTI UK, we are committed to identifying, understanding and reducing the environmental impact of our business activities. We also understand how important it is to support wholesalers to do the same.
It has never been more important for companies to think and act sustainably, not just for the good of the industry, but for society. It’s not only wholesalers
who need to act responsibly – the entire supply chain across the sector also needs to reduce its energy consumption and implement sustainable business practices. Ultimately, the industry needs to work together so that we can make the necessary changes, improving sustainability and preserving natural resources.
Having pledged to reach Net Zero globally by 2050, we want to lead the way in helping wholesalers become more sustainable one step at a time. Our aim is to help facilitate a sector-wide push to implement environmentally friendly business practices and maximise our industry’s sustainability potential.
Top tips for improving your environmental sustainability:
Replace
Allowing
Consider what the return on investment would be if you have solar panels installed.
Whether it’s through switching your vehicles or training your drivers, targeting fuel efficiency will reduce your emissions and cut costs simultaneously.
For more information on what JTI is doing to improve its environmental sustainability, wholesalers can talk to their JTI Business Adviser or visit www.jti.com/uk/sustainability
more than doubled compared with before the pandemic.
What is your long-term vision?
We’re looking for new prem ises as we've outgrown these we bought 10 years ago. But my main priority is to just keep growing the business and moving it forward.
I also want to continue our work with local suppliers in the Leeds area as that’s what sets us apart from the bigger wholesalers, such as Booker and Costco. I also want to continue our work and expanding our own-label range products, which we develop with a couple of other companies.
You recently took over as the chairman of buying group NBC. What are your plans?
First, NBC is really helpful for JL Brooks as it allows us to share contract work with each other from different parts of the UK.
For example, if a customer in the south-west wanted some thing, we could work one of the NBC members to get that to them, and vice-versa.
I was one of the founding members of NBC when it broke away from Confex, and will take over as chairman for a year in January 2023.
We’re doing really well and re cently reported continual growth throughout the business at the AGM, with revenue growing by 25% over the past year.
As chairman, my main aim will be to increase communica tion between members and get more supplier support. l
BWI: What sustainability work are you doing in the wholesale channel?
KH: Our newest farm, Pepperness, in Kent, has been built on a disused brownfield site, creating the equiva lent of 1,000 acres of Grade 1 farm land in our vertical farm.
As the UK currently imports around 70% of its salads1, Pepperness will save over two million food miles a year and help strengthen the UK’s food ecosystem.
Energy has been another big chal lenge for vertical farming. We’ve de veloped a new way to power our farm, using completely renewable sources. This reduces the amount of energy we need by more than 40%.
Our business model helps to build resilience into the UK’s wholesale supply chains, while using technology to measure and improve all aspects of our environmental footprint.
Why should wholesalers work with GrowUp?
On our farms, we create the perfect conditions for growing salad, 365 days per year.
Our plants don’t have to fight pests, diseases, drought or flooding, and are provided with all the nutrients they need as they grow.
The result is fantasticquality food that stays fresher for longer, delivered at an accessible price.
What trends and opportunities are emerging that customers can
take advantage of?
Bagged salads are convenient to use, fresh and healthy products, which fit the consumer trends of plant-based eating. But consumers throw away about 35% of the bagged salads they buy, which wastes food and money2. GrowUp’s bagged salad stays fresher for longer and 64% of bagged salad consumers said they would buy more bagged salads if they knew it would stay fresher for longer3
What challenges has GrowUp had to overcome in the past year?
Rising energy prices and the cost-of-
living crisis has hit food prices more than ever, and shoppers want to avoid waste wherever possible. They want more variety and versatility in fresh food while knowing they’re getting value for money.
Supplying great-quality food with an even better shelf life has never been more important, and GrowUp is tackling this challenge head-on. We are continuing to apply our knowledge and expertise in controlled environ ment production to deliver more value and better products.
What would you like to see happen in wholesale in the next 12 months?
We would like to see more collabora tion and engagement along the supply chain in both directions. Talking to customers about what problems they need solving, as well as working with growers and suppliers to innovate and find solutions.
That might seem a stretch during such challenging economic times, but it’s more important than ever to work collaboratively to deliver great-quality and more sustainable fresh produce to customers while meeting their price expectations.
What advice would you give whole salers looking to grow sales?
Wholesalers have such an important part to play in the UK’s sustainablefood system. By collaborating with suppliers on sustainability initiatives and by bringing more affordable and sustainable products to market, whole salers have a real opportunity to help drive the transformation of the British food system.
This has the potential to change everything from improving afforda bility, reducing environmental impact and getting even more great food to people’s plates. l 1Defra
It was founded in 1979 by Robin Gray and Ebrahim Mukadam, and they are still at the helm to this day, where we have 1,300 members of staff, 16 sites and served 14,000 customers in the past year alone. Ninety-five per cent of our customers are on-trade – pubs, bars, restaurants and event spaces – but we also work closely with TUCO and NUS to serve the universities up and down the UK. Five per cent of our base is also selling to wholesalers directly.
All of our depots are strategically placed to provide as much cov erage across the UK as possible. This means that all buying, design, marketing, e-commerce, accountancy and IT functions operate out of the Manchester support centre. This is also the
home of our bonded hub. Beyond this, our regional depots are able to operate fairly independently, with the guidance and support of our Manchester teams. They have their own P&Ls, their own sales teams, their own managers and their own region-specific listings. For example, our Cornwall and Hereford depots will list many more cider brands than perhaps our north-east depot, as the demand for local cider brands in those regions is higher. Also, we’ve expanded off-trade activity recently through our Signature Brands, reaching as far as Australia and Canada.
I’d say we always deliver – on time, seven days a week. We also have around 22 wine development managers – all fully trained, qual ified to WSET level and extensive knowledge of the industry. This
includes wine educators, too, who provide industry-recognised quali fications – to customers and staff.
Furthermore, we have our own Signature Brands collection of spirits, beers and ciders that we have rights to or own, which we deliver across various channels from wholesale to retail. We offer cocktail training and brand immersions to help our customers maximise their profits.
Not only this, we also have our own pub group, Dorbiere, with over 40 pubs across the UK, which helps us understand the industry, as well as serving as a testing ground for products.
What is your growth plan over the next couple of years? Opening new depots in Andover and Doncaster to expand our reach, and also moving to bigger depots in the north east and Teesside.
Another unique move we’re making is opening up a site in the south dedicated specifically for festivals and events.
Other than locations, we’re looking to invest into all of our teams and aim to grow across online and e-commerce this year; invested into new platforms, product development and grow ing the team.
What is your overarching strategy?
On the whole, we want to become the best service provider across the on-trade and wholesale, and continue to develop and add new products to our Signature Brands and Signature Wine ranges. Furthermore, we want to continue building new sites and locations to keep up with demand and serve every corner of the UK.
We’re also continuing to invest in our people by running our
Warehouse to Wheels programme to help upskill our warehouse staff. We also have a strong ap prenticeship programme that sees apprentices learn while they work across all areas of the business and deliver training qualifications to everyone from telesales to marketing.
What is the best thing about working at LWC?
We’re adaptable – we adapted during Covid-19 – we’ve got lots of different arms of the business, so we’ve got a 360-degree of the industry. Also, we invest in people, as mentioned before, and we’re looking to create charity partnerships and, locally, each depot has numerous charitable
initiatives they’re involved in. Earlier this year, we donated 9,000 bottles of water to Age UK service users, and we sponsor a local grassroots sports club like Manchester Baseball Club as well as big names, such as St Helens Rugby Club. We also donate to projects in Bangladesh, food banks and for seasonal campaigns such as Mission Christmas.
What has the company done to improve its environmental footprint?
We are no longer purchasing die sel cars or vehicles and are slowly replacing our unleaded and diesel vehicles. We’re also investing into full electric and hybrid cars. We continually modernise and
maintain the fleet through the use of greener fuels. On top of this, we’re constantly trying to reduce the carbon footprint by using computer-generated delivery routes to ensure effective and fuel-efficient routes.
Also, waste produced from storage and distribution is collect ed and compacted on each site and then collected by recycling partners, and we’ve imple mented annual audits under the Streamlines Energy and Carbon Reporting Scheme. l
In recent years, the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has been one of the most proactive organisa tions within the industry when it comes to sustainability. Recently, in collaboration with sustainability specialists The Algorithm People and Auditel, it acted to help Scottish wholesal ers move to a more environmen tally sustainable future through the reduction of emissions.
Both organisations have become affiliate members of the SWA and recently participated in a special webinar aimed at help ing members – wholesalers and suppliers – not only to cut costs across their business operations, but also to reduce and calculate their carbon emissions.
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, The Algorithm People is
a company specialising in route optimisation, fleet scheduling and electric vehicle optimisation solutions.
It is offering SWA members access to its award-winning My Transport Planner (MTP) opti misation platform, with selected members also getting free access to trial and showcase the power of MTP.
Under the new partnership with SWA, all members will benefit from discounted fees to access the MTP fleet optimi sation platform – which uses computer algorithms to route and schedule vehicle deliveries and collections, maximising operational efficiency.
The software maximises operational efficiency, with the company’s clients typically reporting improved productivi
ty, reduced fuel cost and lower emissions of 20%.
Members attending the webinar had the opportunity to explore the benefits of routing and scheduling optimisation as well as receive instruction on accessing MTP.
Colin Smith, SWA chief executive, said: “Our association is committed to supporting our members on their journey to a more environmentally sustain able future, so we are delighted to be collaborating with The Algorithm People, giving our membership the opportunity to access the range of optimisation tools, which will help them to reduce cost, fuel and CO2.”
Meanwhile, leading carbon and cost management company Auditel, based in Hampshire, is working with SWA members to
help them achieve sustainable change on their carbon- and cost-reduction journey.
Supported by more than 100 procurement and carbon special ists from a broad range of pro fessions and industries, Auditel offers extensive knowledge and expertise in procurement and carbon management.
Smith said: “Auditel is already working with SWA members, and during the webinar they demonstrated success stories on how they have helped organisa tions to cut carbon, save costs and driver greater efficiencies across several areas of their business.
“The aim of the webinar was to help members not just to navigate their journey towards net zero, but to fund it through our cost savings and procure
ment solutions from within the business.”
Earlier this year, the SWA was invited to join Scotland’s new Zero Emission Truck Taskforce in recognition of its ongoing work with members as part of its ‘Decarbonisation of the Wholesale Industry’ project, and it also made a key appointment with the recruitment of Ylva Haglund as its new head of sus tainability and engagement.
Haglund joins from Zero Waste Scotland, where she was campaigns manager leading on consumer food waste prevention behaviour change projects as well as the Love Food Hate Waste campaign in Scotland. Her previ ous roles include awareness-rais ing and implementation of policy at environmental charities Keep Scotland Beautiful and Scottish Environment Link. In addition, she is a member of the European Commission expert group on food waste.
Her wide-ranging role at the SWA will focus on helping members share knowledge and resources to understand and overcome the challenges on the road to net
zero, and in doing so create a greener, more sustainable local food and drink supply chain.
Working with government, stakeholder groups and col leagues at the FWD, she will lead on the wholesale sector’s decar bonisation and net-zero strategy, incorporating Phase 2 (buildings and energy use) and Phase 3 (people and travel) of the SWA’s ongoing ‘Decarbonisation of the Wholesale Industry’ project.
She will also help deliver a communications strategy to im prove member engagement and investment return, both around sustainability and within the wider context of the SWA.
Smith said: “This is a key role for us and confirmation of our commitment to our members and sector in exploring opportunities and finding solutions to make our industry cleaner and greener.
Ylva joins us after we were invited by the Scottish gov ernment to sit on the new Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, so her appointment coincides with many of our members starting to have conversations about how they can transition to zero-emission trucks.
Haglund, the SWA’s new head of sustainability and engagement
“Ylva has an impressive track record and is well placed to help our members on their journey to incorporate a just transition to new technologies as they decar bonise their businesses and meet environmental and sustainability targets. She will also develop relevant training programmes and advise members on key certi fication, via the SWA Training Academy.
“As a member of the inde pendent judging panel for the SWA Achievers Awards 2022, Ylva has already met many of our members and is
looking forward to getting out and about to meet more in the coming months.”
Commenting on her ap pointment, Haglund said: “The prospect of joining such a for ward-thinking trade association and leading on sustainability and environmental issues affecting the Scottish and wider UK wholesale industry is hugely exciting for me. I will use my experience to help our wholesalers achieve their ambitions as we accelerate the transition to net zero and progress towards a circular economy.
“The SWA is highly regard ed by the Scottish government and other stakeholders, and has forged excellent relationships with politicians and stakeholders, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Colin and his team were instrumental in securing industry funding via the Scottish Food and Drink Wholesale Resilience Fund.
“I’m looking forward to meet ing members and working with them as we move on from the pandemic and make plans for the future.” l
1. How wholesalers can support their employees’ and managers’ mental health and well-being
Begin by making mental health and well-being a key thread in your managers’ plans, and setting specific objectives. Train and support them to handle team members’ health issues and ensure they know how to assist and direct colleagues to further help. Establish an active wellness programme, focused on mental health, exercise and social interaction. Partner with healthcare experts and mental-health service providers, and appoint trained mental-health first-aiders to support where needed.
Start meetings with mental-health and well-being check-ins, and encourage everyone to feel comfortable speaking openly about their challenges. Offer access to industry support lines such as GroceryAid and Hospitality Action, providing financial and legal advice, and emo tional and counselling support. Highlight the importance of work-life balance and support colleagues with flexible hours, working from home and out-of-hours email curfews. Finally, encourage increased physical activity with fitness groups and healthy eating at work, for example, by providing free fruit.
2. How wholesalers can create a working environment where everyone feels secure, welcome and accepted, whoever they are
Define a clear set of core values and live by these, with every decision reverting back to your values. Do regular reality checks to understand where you are, and what you need to improve. Post honest company news updates on internal communications platforms, and seek feedback on how people in the business are feeling and their concerns. Train hiring managers in tackling unconscious bias and develop a transparent, inclusive working culture, where everyone feels valued and secure.
Set up a diversity programme and implement diversity and inclusion policies, procedures and communication channels. Sign the FWD’s Standards and Dignity at Work Charter, and become an accredited Living Wage employer as well as applying the Disability Confident Committed standard, confirming you support disadvantaged people with accessible recruitment and reasonable adjustments. Adopt robust induc tion processes, where new employees spend time in each department. Crucially, ensure those in leadership roles regularly spend time around the business, seeing the challenges faced by staff, and welcoming ideas for improvements.
Seek the advice of employees who live locally about the community’s priorities and challenges. Establish and maintain partnerships with local charities, and conduct regular fundraising for local causes. Where possible, match fund local community support with customers, so they become the face of the support.
Help people in the community get on the career ladder through paid placements, graduate schemes and apprenticeships. Raise awareness of volunteering oppor tunities, and get involved with community initiatives. Work with schools looking for support for breakfast, holiday and revision clubs. Also consider sponsoring community sports clubs and colleagues with work-life training skills working with local schools or engaging with homeless or food bank charities, not only with food donations, but also people’s time. Where practical, link wellness activities like exercise and social interaction to supporting good causes, and environmental initiatives like beach and park cleans.
Commit to quick, reactive, honest communication to provide the best possible service to your customers. Remember the three-step process: determine the issue, identify actions to resolve it, and see how to avoid recurrences in the future. Communicate this approach to your account managers and customers, providing transparent communication and building trust and loyalty. Hold regular supplier and customer forums, to share brand plans and NPD news. Be similarly open with sales data to help retailers and other customers analyse and improve their sales and margin, and share non-confidential market data that gives a true picture of trading conditions and explains the challenges you all face. Ensure you deliver whatever has been agreed, and are open about availability as a channel, to ensure everyone has a fair share of stock. Be clear about delivery charges, and take a stand on fair and transparent pricing.
5. How wholesalers
on
environment, and encourage their employees, suppliers and customers to do the same
Dedicate yourselves to doing the right thing, starting with setting up an environ mental action team. View your environmental impact as a top priority, and imple ment action plans to reduce carbon emissions. Measure your carbon footprint to identify which business areas have the worst environmental impact. For wholesal ers, this usually means transport and logistics. Measure CO2 use in grams per case delivered, and track reductions.
Work with suppliers on efficient ordering, packaging and logistics. Seek to reduce packaging used and switch to eco-friendly shrink wrap, and find alternative routes to market for residual stock that would otherwise go to landfill. Change to green technology, such as electric delivery vehicles and company cars. Invest in electric forklifts and paperless technology. Install solar panels and automatic lights, timers and motion sensors. Designate sustainability champions to influence your workforce to act responsibly and participate in sustainable behaviours. l
With thanks to:
Simon Hannah, chief executive officer, JW Filshill; Louise Slater, head of HR and compliance, Parfetts; Gurms Athwal, trading director, Parfetts; Debbie Harrison, joint managing director, Pricecheck; Kelly Williams, director and general manager south-west, Savona Foodservice
Andy Edwards Business Unit Controller – Wholesale, Ferrero
“Our recent research, in collaboration with Better Wholesaling, has revealed that 31% of whole salers surveyed are not currently sharing insight and data with suppliers; with only 15% saying they take a fully transparent approach. Being able to differentiate between online and in-depot sales allows suppliers to understand the impact online media, optimised imagery and app- or web-focused activations have on online sales. Ultimately, it can help suppliers understand where support is required and where money needs to be spent.
“We know that online sales accelerated during Covid-19, but 85% of wholesalers surveyed agreed online ordering has increased in the past year – showcasing the continued opportunity. We note, though, that over half (57%) of wholesalers who plan to develop their e-commerce strategy beyond the next 12 months also believe it will only grow with the right support. At Ferrero, wholesale is a key part of our business and we’re ready to offer the support our customers need. Data transparency is crucial in unlocking online opportunity and can help us see which of our products perform best online, which may differ to what we see in-depot. The more information suppliers can gain from wholesalers, the better they can plan ahead and put steps in place to help ensure e-commerce in the channel goes from strength to strength.
“Particularly in the current climate, we want to work with our customers to explore future opportunities together. Wherever wholesalers are on their e-commerce journey, we welcome and embrace data transparency.”
3. How wholesalers can make a positive social contribution to their local community and wider society
4. How wholesalers can work with their suppliers and customers to make their trading fairer and more transparent
can reduce their impact
theIn partnership
The energy drinks category has always performed well in the convenience channel, with the segment going from strength to strength in wholesale over the past two years. This is especial ly true with Britvic’s Rockstar brand, which continues to expand.
Britvic’s GB wholesale director, Ian Patefield, recently met Bestway’s general manager, Nauman Mahmood, at the company’s headquarters at Park Royal in west London to talk through the Rockstar range and the profits the category can bring to the channel.
“It’s really great to be here at Bestway to work with the team around our Rockstar range, and to discuss the importance of the category to their retailers,” explained Patefield. “At Britvic, we want to understand the challenges wholesalers face when it comes to energy drinks and support them in merchandising their energy drinks range. We also want to drive awareness of the Rockstar range and how the range caters to shoppers’ needs with flavours and different variants. In 2021, stimulants overtook cola to become the biggest soft drinks segment in the conveni ence channel, growing by a staggering 19.6% to £656m1.”
It’s been a busy few months for Britvic, with the launch of two of its top-performing flavours2, Juiced El-Mango and Tropical Punch, in a price-marked pack format. Designed to further drive impulse purchases and bring new shoppers into the category, the £1.29 PMP cans were released to wholesalers in August.
The Britvic team were also out in force over the summer, sampling
900,000 cans of Rockstar across four cities in June and July. Further sampling and experiential activity took place across universities, target ing new starters during Fresher’s Week. This all formed part of Britvic’s new global messaging campaign, ‘Fuel Every You’, which helped to drive awareness of the brand and ensure it is front of mind when con sumers are in convenience stores.
Mahmood explained that Rockstar products are performing really well at Bestway. “It’s one of our leaders in depot, which has become a really fast-growing segment across over the past 18 months,” he said.
Patefield added that stimulants has a core of extremely loyal buyers, with 20% of shoppers accounting for over 75% of volume and buy ing more than three times per week3. “Although consumers gravitate towards their favourite flavour, there is also demand for expanded ranges and new flavours, with 17% of sports & energy drinks consumers actively seeking out new flavours4, and we have seen this need being met through a variety of NPD and flavour expansions across brands,” he said.
“It’s been great having Britvic here in west London. Meetings like this are great for not only us, but our retailers,” concluded Mahmood, with Patefield adding the benefits the meetings bring to both parties: “It’s good to travel and visit our wholesale customers. Days like this not only allow us to understand their needs better, but it allows us to help them become more successful in the energy drinks category.”
BWI:
MV: Through our deep relationships with our current wholesale partners, we help to identify the parts of busi ness where the headroom for growth is greatest, or those parts of the business where additional assistance may be needed. To do this, we use the technology and experience of data analytics and AI to focus on range, pricing and promotional planning. Providing wholesalers with access to the breadth and range of knowledge that we can offer, in easily accessible formats, enables them to use this data and share it within their business, ensuring they go on to make betterinformed decisions.
What is the greatest challenge that the wholesale industry faces?
Inflation is the obvious answer here, with our wholesale inflation tracker indicating it won’t be slowing down anytime soon unfortunately. As ever, it will take wholesalers, suppliers and partners working togeth er to react nimbly and make the best decisions in a rapidly changing market. Covid-19’s impact is also still a big challenge for wholesal ers, particularly in food service. The sector may have made a strong recovery since the low of the first UK lockdown, but total foodservice buying customer numbers in July this year were nearly 900,000 short of what was recorded in
September 2019. Alcohol in particular saw the biggest drop in the channel, but saw the largest spike in retail – indi cating customer switching that has still not yet returned to pre-Covid-19 times. Impulse categories have seen a hefty 50% decline in foodservice.
What trends and oppor tunities are emerging that customers can take advantage of? UK shoppers are making significant and rapidly evolving changes to buying habits in reaction to the cost inflation challenge. Recent research has shown how shoppers are changing their behav iours with half of consumers surveyed revealing they had changed where they
buy their groceries in the past three months – this increased to 65% when looking at under-24s specifically, and 86% of students. Our ability to make data and insight more visible and accessible allows wholesalers to look ahead and spot opportunities off the back of trends to allow them to expand own label ranges. For example, to meet a specific price for retailers catering to this younger audience.
What is SalesOut’s greatest achievement in the past year?
It’s great to see our wholesale partners gain so much from the services we supply and one of our greatest achieve ments this year is the work we have done with Blakemore. We have been working with them for several years, which has led to us supporting them on their promotion strategy. We were able to work with Blakemore to demonstrate how to benchmark price elasticity at SKU level and help them understand what the best promotional mechanic was. It’s always satisfying for us to see the positive results our wholesale part ners can gain and the added value they can receive when using these resources.
We are helping our wholesalers contin ually drive the data agenda and move together from the initial data sharing to the next stage of data-informed decisions for forecasting, range, price analysis and media driven marketing to drive the purchasing of the right products for the outlet.
Data can fuel an empowering con versation when you have it all at your fingertips and everyone is aligned. The businesses that succeed in the future will be those that have visibility right through from the wholesaler to the consumer, and that will be enabled by through-the-line forecasting. l
*salesout.co.uk/salesout-book-a-call
All research was carried out by SalesOut
How has SalesOut helped wholesalers grow sales in the past 12 months?Marcus
Vallance, head of wholesale & foodservice, SalesOut IRi
Sit down, relax and have a cuppa. Thanks to a wealth of supplier activity, retailer inno vation and changing consumer demand, hot beverages has become one of the most sig nificant growth categories in the independent channel.
So, it’s worth taking a moment and exploring the latest news and trends affecting this market.
Firstly, longstanding, estab lished brands are refreshing their packaging and portfolios to re main relevant in changing times, and Kenco – part of the Jacobs Douwe Egberts portfolio – has recently updated the packaging of its premium Millicano range.
Across the brand’s three blends – Original, Intense and Decaff – the range “brings to life whole bean coffee in an instant”, accord ing to the company.
Investing in multimillion-pound media campaign from October to December 2022, Jacobs Douwe Egberts believes there is a significant opportunity for the independent channel to capitalise on the trend.
“As industry leaders who pioneered instant coffee tins in the UK, we are excited to bring our fresh new look to market,” says Roberto de Felice, marketing director at Jacobs Douwe Egberts. “We are proud to create quality product experiences to support our wholesale partners as the cof fee market continues to grow and remain relevant to consumers.”
Another premium coffee brand from Jacobs Douwe Egberts –L’Or – recently updated its portfo lio with three new products: L’Or Artiste, L’Or Instant Jar and L’Or Flavours Collection Aluminium Capsules. The launches represent the first new lines from the brand
Susan Nash Trade communications manager, Mondelez International
The hot chocolate segment as a whole is in strong year-onyear growth in the independent channel, proving its ongoing relevance to shoppers throughout the year. Mondelez International’s extensive range includes Cadbury Hot Chocolate, Cadbury Instant, Cadbury Highlights, Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Powder, Fry’s Hot Chocolate, and premium brand Green & Black’s Cocoa and Hot Chocolate – with prod ucts tapping into the drinking chocolate, instant chocolate and cocoa sub-categories. Cadbury is the UK’s number-one hot chocolate brand and is growing by 8.7% year on year.
In terms of current trends, balance and well-being remain
important considerations for many, which provides an opportunity for wholesalers and their retail customers. Mondelez International offers customers a lighter alternative to enjoy hot chocolate through the Cadbury Highlights brand. Cadbury Highlights Milk Chocolate has the smooth, milk-chocolatey taste of the number-one chocolate brand, with a recently improved flavour and pack design, to give strong standout on shelf.
At only 38 calories per cup, the product meets shopper demand for lower-calorie options and will help wholesalers to ensure their retailer customers’ fixtures remain relevant despite the rise of the trend for healthier living.
in five years.
L’Or Artiste is a micro-ground coffee available in two variants – Vigoroso and Delicato – while L’Or Instant Jar sees the brand move into a new-shaped, recycla ble glass jar that has had its black plastic removed.
Finally, the new Nespressocompatible L’Or Flavours Collection comprises capsules available in three flavours: L’Or Chocolate, L’Or Caramel and L’Or Vanilla.
“L’Or continues to be the stand ard for quality coffee experiences across all key coffee categories, and these new ranges strengthen existing consumption occasions, as well as unlocking new ones,” says de Felice.
Supplier investment isn’t solely occurring in the coffee market, however.
Premium tea brand Clipper has removed the foil bags in its boxes of tea in order to make them fully recyclable. The Dorset-based company says it has invested
more than £1m in a new produc tion line to make its new box, which is reinforced to make sure the tea bags remain protected and fresh.
The move is expected to save at least 20 tonnes of metallised plastic from going to landfill or incineration every year and fol lows the rollout of unbleached, plant-based and fully biodegrad able teabags.
“After launching our indus try-first biodegradable teabag, we were determined to keep momen tum and address non-essential plastics across our ranges,” says Bryan Martins, Clipper’s market ing and category director.
Those hunting for the most innovative – and most profitable – corners of the hot beverages market will want to look at the rise of in-store coffee-shop-style offers, which many independent retailers are now developing.
Spar wholesaler the Henderson Group has provided a great example of the potential for this market, including the first-ever Barista Bar Coffee drive-thru at its new Spar Mallusk store in Northern Ireland.
“Mallusk is largely industrial, with many businesses operating in the area. However, it also has high passing trade and residential areas on its outskirts,” says Mark McCammond, retail director at Henderson Group.
Coffee can be ordered online via Spar’s Savvy Shopper App and collected at the store. “Barista Bar, created by Henderson Group’s foodservice business, has seen exceptional growth in the past couple of years,” says McCammond.
“The popular coffee brand has gained an even greater presence in our Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores, and now we are
Kenco Millicano Jacobs Douwe Egberts has updated the design of its Millicano tins, which are now available in Original 100g, Decaff 100g and Intense 95g formats across all channels.
Starbucks The Seattle-based coffee giant has launched two of its chilled coffee flavours – Caffè Latte and Caramel Macchiato – in a multiserve, fully recyclable format.
Cadbury Cadbury recently altered the flavour and pack design of its Cadbury Highlights Milk Chocolate. This lighter alternative to hot choco late has 38 calories per cup.
Clipper Teas The company extended its green tea range with the launch of Super Greens. Each bag contains 15% of people’s daily recommended vitamin C intake.
L’Or Flavours Collection Part of a wider investment in the brand, L’Or Flavours Collection has capsules in three premium flavours: L’Or Choco late, L’Or Caramel and L’Or Vanilla.
Roast 440 Caterforce’s Roast 400 coffee brand is available to the foodservice buying group’s members and has been developed with independ ent foodservice outlets in mind.
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delighted to introduce the first drive-thru concept for the brand in Northern Ireland.”
Henderson Group is also adapt ing to the changing demands of consumers. At Queen’s University in Belfast, the company has cre ated an offer that reflects the diets of today’s young people.
“Our new store at One Elmwood, the new Queen’s Student Centre and Students’ Union, is proud to introduce the first-ever non-dairy selfserve coffee concept under Barista Bar, with its unique plant-based-only machine, which we believe is a first for Northern Ireland,” says Spar store manager Glenn Patterson.
“Barista Bar Planted will sit alongside two of our standard machines, offering a full range of delicious hot drinks.”
As more wholesalers wake up to the opportunity with this blending of foodservice and retail offers, suppliers are on hand to provide guidance and insight.
“Larger stores in particular will need to work on their layout to ensure food to go is more
accessible, especially if they are broadening their range to include things like hot food, servery coun ters and coffee,” says Phil Carratt, head of marketing and strategy at Country Choice.
One challenge is adapting to shifting consumer demand in response to the twin shocks of the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis. “During the pandemic, store-prepared food to go struggled as the traditional customer stayed at home, and retailers diverted both labour and shelf space to more in-demand categories. As a result, availability of food to go was poor,” says Carratt.
“However, this approach has left retailers on the competitive back foot as footfall returned and consumers sought a change from homemade meals. That said, with the focus likely to be on value for at least the next 18 months, retail ers are in a strong position.”
With this in mind, it’s time to finish off that cuppa and get to work capitalising on what remains one of the independent channel’s most exciting opportunities.
1. Coffee demand is driving new formats – A drive-thru coffee shop is one of the latest innovations in the hot drinks-on-the-go market. Coffee at the Henderson Group’s new Mallusk store can be ordered online via Spar’s Savvy Shopper App and collected at the store. “Barista Bar, created by Henderson Group’s foodservice business, Henderson Foodservice, has seen exceptional growth in the past couple of years,” says Mark McCammond, retail director at Henderson Group.
The retail group is also behind Northern Ireland’s first-ever non-dairy self-serve coffee concept – under the Barista Bar brand. Barista Bar Planted will sit alongside two standard machines offer ing a full range of hot drinks at Spar’s Queen’s University store.
2. Brands are keeping up to date – Major brands such as Kenco Millicano, L’Or and Clipper are continuing to invest in their ranges, packaging and products in order to keep up with a fast-changing market.
Jacobs Douwe Egberts recently updated the packaging of its premium Kenco Millicano range across three blends – Original, Intense and Decaff. “We are proud to create quality product expe riences to support our retail and wholesale partners,” says Roberto de Felice, marketing director at Jacobs Douwe Egberts.
L’Or, meanwhile, has updated its portfolio with three new prod ucts: L’Or Artiste, L’Or Instant Jar and L’Or Flavours Collection Aluminium Capsules, and Clipper has invested in new sustainable packaging.
3. Don’t forget chocolate – Behind the dominance of tea and coffee, it can be easy to forget that hot chocolate has become an increasingly essential part of the wider category.
Delivering strong year-on-year growth in the independent chan nel, Mondelez International’s extensive range includes Cadbury Hot Chocolate, Cadbury Instant, Cadbury Highlights, Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Powder, Fry’s Hot Chocolate, and premium brand Green & Black’s Cocoa and Hot Chocolate. The range taps into the drinking chocolate, instant chocolate and cocoa sub-cate gories which, Mondelez says, now achieves ongoing relevance to shoppers throughout the year. Cadbury is the UK’s number-one hot chocolate brand, growing at 8.7% year on year. l
of consumers are unable to name a retailer doing a good job of reducing plastic waste*
For more than a decade, the convenience sector has been adapting to the growth of the ‘big night in’ – a trend that first began when consumers switched from expensive nights out towards cheaper events with family and friends at home. What began in the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008 has carried on for 14 years and counting –with the ongoing financial crisis only adding to its relevance.
For this reason, suppliers believe wholesalers should be mindful of the formats they stock in key categories such as sugar confectionery and chocolate.
“Sharing formats perform particularly well at this time of year, as consumers come together with friends and loved ones,” says a Mars Wrigley spokesperson.
“M&M’s Bitesize range is ideal for sharing and is available in consumers’ favourite flavours –Peanut, Crispy and Chocolate. The entire range is a must-stock
for wholesalers, especially as bitesize is the fastest-growing segment in chocolate.”
Sharing formats are also helping to drive innovation in the confectionery market. Maltesers’ latest innovation – Dark Maltesers – are available in a £1 pricemarked treat bag. A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley says the dark chocolate segment is now grow ing by 15%. They add: “Made with 65% more cocoa and 30% less sugar, Dark Maltesers meet the demand for more permissible sweet treats, with a reduction in sugar content remaining one of the top-three priorities for shoppers.”
Another key launch of recent months has been the arrival of Wispa Gold Salted Caramel. Wispa is the third-biggest brand within the Cadbury range after Dairy Milk and Twirl.
The limited-edition 45g bar capitalises on what is a top-five flavour trend for new prod ucts, according to Mondelez
Sutherland Sales director, FerreroFollowing the pandemic, im pulse on-the-go purchases have been affected as consumers continue to work from home and adopt flexible working programmes.
This has meant the trend for shoppers opting for multipacks and take-home formats to share with family and friends has continued.
As a result, premium boxed chocolate has proven to be one of the most resilient sec tors in confectionery, reflected in our Ferrero boxed range, which is in 20% year-onyear growth.
Our Ferrero Rocher 300g format is the ideal premium offering, and it has supported
retailers in driving bigger basket spend.
Premium boxed confec tionery will continue to play an important role for retailers wanting to drive confectionery sales, so it’s key the right pack formats are available in depot.
For example, Ferrero Rocher 300g and Thorntons Classic 262g are ideal offerings that make it easier for customers to trade up to these premium brands and support retailers in driving bigger basket sales.
We also expanded our boxed chocolate range in August 2021 with the launch of Thorntons Pearls in Hazelnut Delight and Salted Caramel Sensation flavours.
Toblerone Golden Mondelez International has launched the latest extension to its Toblerone range with the goal of appealing to gift opportuni ties for younger consumers.
Skittles Squishy Cloudz Described as “the first aerated gummy products” to sit within the Mars Wrigley range, this launch combines gummy and marshmallow elements.
Dark Maltesers Maltesers’ latest brand extension is available in a £1 PMP treat bag. Mars Wrigley says the dark chocolate segment is currently growing by 15%.
Wispa Gold Salted Caramel This limited-edition bar taps into a top-five flavour trend for new products. Mondelez International says it’s the highest-per forming flavour across all demographics.
International. “On-trend and relevant new flavours are a key growth driver in chocolate, accounting for 28% of category growth and attracting incremental younger adult consumers,” says Susan Nash, trade communica tions manager at the company.
When it comes to sugar confec tionery, innovation and novelty appear to be continuing to drive sales. A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley says: “Consumers are looking for variation in the texture and flavour of their fruity confections.
“Skittles, the fastest-growing and number-one contributing brand to the category in 2020, continues to create a pipeline of innovation with its latest release, Squishy Cloudz.”
Available in two flavours, Fruits and Crazy Sours, Squishy
Thorntons Pearls Available in two premium flavours, Hazelnut Delight and Salted Caramel Sensation, Thorntons Pearls are designed to tap into the gift opportunity.
Cloudz are described as “the first aerated gummy products” to sit within the Mars Wrigley range. Combining a gummy and marsh mallow, Squishy Cloudz retain the same intense fruity flavours that make Skittles a consumer favourite, the company says.
Highlighting the continuing need for brands to adapt to rising prices and the cost-of-living crisis, Squishy Clouds are also available in £1 price-marked bags.
The arrival of the festive period
Ferrero Rocher Ferrero’s boxed range is currently in 20% year-on-year growth. The Ferrero Rocher 300g format supports retailers and wholesalers in driving bigger basket spend, the company says.
heralds a months-long opportunity to boost sales of gift formats that also includes Valentine’s Day and Mothers’ Day. Unsurprisingly, it’s an opportunity that suppliers are ready to help wholesalers benefit from.
Mondelez International has recently expanded the Toblerone range to bring shoppers a lim ited-edition launch: Toblerone Golden.
“This addition to the Toblerone range brings shoppers the crunchy
nougat of a classic Toblerone in golden caramel chocolate. Toblerone Golden is perfect as a seasonal gift, helping retailers to drive premium sales and tradeup,” says Nash.
Mondelez International be lieves the Toblerone launch will also help wholesale customers tap into more occasions by appealing to younger adult shoppers, who have shown an appetite for the caramelised white chocolate used in Toblerone Golden.
Caramelised white was the biggest new product category for chocolate in 2021, worth £18.5m, according to the company.
Gift opportunities also present an opportunity for emerging or independent brands, offering something different for a loved one. Karen Crawford, marketing director at Lily O’Brien’s, says
Sharing formats are helping to drive innovation in the confectionery market
premium confectionery will be particularly important as shop pers seek to show their affection at a budget.
She adds: “Affordable indulgence will be a key trend. Shoppers will gravitate towards products that offer comfort, joy and luxury at an attractive price.
“The in-laid market is par ticularly well positioned for this, given the broad appeal of quality boxed chocolates and the mean ing behind them.”
One event that has only be come relevant in the confection ery category over the past few years is Veganuary, thanks to the growth in consumers starting the year following a vegan diet.
“With Veganuary 2023 on the horizon and shaping up to be the biggest yet, Swizzels is offering tips to those retailers hoping to appeal to customers ahead of the challenge,” says the company’s sales director, Mark Walker.
“In 2022, 83% of Veganuary participants planned a permanent diet change, so it’s essential re tailers stock a range of bestsell ing, well-known brands to entice customers.”
Swizzels’ range of veganfriendly products includes Refresher Original Lemon, Strawberry & Sour Apple, as well as the Drumstick original and Vimto flavoured chew bars.
This all leaves one question: how can depot managers ensure they are ready to capitalise on the continuing strength of the confectionery market in the months ahead?
“For wholesalers, ensuring their main fixtures contain bestselling brands and any new products is essential, as 45% of confectionery products are picked up directly from main fixtures.
“Increasing the visibility of must-stock items will create more intrigue for consumers, resulting in boosted sales, so wholesalers should place these products at eye-level, or buylevel, to achieve the best re sults,” a Mars Wrigley spokes person says.
With suppliers working hard to ensure the right products are available to meet the moment, the biggest challenge for wholesalers is ensuring they’re ready. l
1. Focus on your main fixture – While impulse categories such as confectionery traditionally benefit from secondary sitings, sup pliers believe it is important to make sure a depot’s main fixture is also well-stocked, attractive and relevant.
For wholesalers, ensuring their main fixtures contain bestselling brands and any new products is essential, as 45% of confectionery products are picked up directly from main fixtures, according to Mars Wrigley.
Increased visibility of must-stock items will create more intrigue for consumers, resulting in boosted sales, so wholesalers should place these products at eye-level, or buy-level, to achieve the best results, the company says. A small amount of effort is likely to pay dividends.
2. Pay attention to major trends – Recent launches highlight the impact that broader trends are having on the confectionery catego ry. The arrival of Wispa Gold Salted Caramel and Dark Maltesers both follow the emergence of demand for salted-caramel- and dark-chocolate-flavoured products.
Toblerone Golden, meanwhile, arrives on the back of ‘caramelised white’ – the biggest chocolate NPD trend in 2021 – worth £18.5m.
“This addition to the Toblerone range brings shoppers the crunchy nougat of a classic Toblerone in beautifully crafted golden caramel chocolate. Toblerone Golden is perfect as a seasonal gift, helping retailers to drive premium sales and tradeup,” says Susan Nash.
3. Gifts aren’t just for Christmas – “Premium boxed confection ery will continue to play an important role for retailers wanting to drive confectionery sales, so it’s key that the right pack formats are offered in store,” says John Sutherland.
Ferrero Rocher 300g and Thorntons Classic 262g are put for ward by the company as ideal offerings that make it easier for cus tomers to trade up to these premium brands and support retailers in driving bigger basket sales.
Karen Crawford says premium confectionery will be particularly important as shoppers seek to show their affection at a budget: “Affordable indulgence will be a key trend,” she adds.
