Welcome to the May/June edition of Wholesale Manager, the number one title for the UK’s cash & carries and delivered wholesalers.
READ THE MAY / JUNE ISSUE HERE
Summer is a peak season for cash & carries and delivered wholesalers with people out enjoying themselves, but don’t let it turn into a season of crime! In our news pages, retail crime in England and Wales is at an all time high. We have 10 timely tips on choosing a security service from security experts Leisure Sec.
Meanwhile foodservice continues to be very lucrative, with national wholesaler JJ Food Service being named one of the UK’s most profitable businesses in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100. Looking ahead, Women In Wholesale is the subject of a conference in October, designed to nurture and support existing talent while inspiring newcomers.
One of the more prominent women in UK wholesaling is Julie Tidy, Depot General Manager for the Birmingham Bidvest Foodservice depot (page 6), who recently won the Gold Medal at the FWD Awards for the ‘Delivered Depot Manager’ category, recognising her talents as an outstanding manager working in a tough environment, leading from the front and managing a multidisciplinary team. When Julie started in wholesale, there weren’t many women in management jobs.
Now she says the numbers of women in senior positions in the wholesale industry are growing: within Bidvest Foodservice, Jane says three women hold senior board positions, and working closely with suppliers, she probably sees as many women as men.
Rain or shine, this summer is proving busier than usual for Carol Saunders, Head of Customer Marketing at Highland Spring, who we hear from in our Soft Drinks & Waters feature (page 12). With still and sparkling waters showing significant growth as consumers switch from sugary soft drinks, plain bottled water is the biggest growth contributor in soft drinks overall and Carol predicts volume sales hitting 3 billion litres in the next two years.
How are you positioned to handle changing customer demand? As our Materials Handling feature reminds us, efficient materials handling procedures and adequate capacity are crucial to successful cash & carry and delivered wholesale operations. Besides maximising productivity and throughput and reducing picking errors, you also need to focus on safety and environmental impact. To get the best out of your materials handling setup, call on your suppliers’ expert knowledge – and don’t hold back! Finally, in our Quote Unquote (page 27) Edmund Chartier, Ecommerce Manager at Palmer and Harvey explains how his role includes enhancing P&H’s transactional website, with the aim of making it the most accessible, straightforward ecommerce site in wholesale. On a lighter note Edmund also reveals he plays the trumpet and dreams of owning a microbrewery…
Cheers!
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