Complete transparency

Wholesalers can get the best buying opportunities with NBC, a new kind of buying group that offers complete transparency and collaboration between members, suppliers and the core team.

David Lunt, Managing Director, NBC, spoke to Wholesale Manager.

How many members do you have?

We currently have over 55 members across both wholesale and cash & carry operators. As a buying group we focus upon what that buying scale can produce in everyday pricing for our members, which is more about regular purchasing scale that can be transferred into realistic delivery quantities for our members.

What benefits do you offer members and suppliers?

Buying groups typically offer many benefits for members – they pretty much do a similar thing. For NBC, we see benefits in two ways: firstly access – to major brands that are consolidating their supply chains; access to great net pricing without the need for retro claims; access to agreed terms, 100% in full and on time; access to a web-2-print brochure service free of charge; access to volume discounts through our central warehousing and logistics function, NDN; and secondly, membership through shareholding which is an investment, not a membership fee.

We also strongly believe that our group has a role to play in supporting our supplier partners. And it is a similar theme – we provide access; to multiple points of consumer purchase; to over 55 members; through one central buying point; delivering annual promotional programmes; activating support for new product launches; and bespoke members brochure activity. Supporting NBC as a supplier is an investment, not just a listing fee.

What have you done to grow your membership?

Our membership has grown since our first year through networking, trade events, referrals and trade publications – we would rather our group had a strong referral because of our credentials than through an impersonal mailshot. Our company governance ensures that we always have three member directors on the board so that our feet are firmly placed on the ground when we review our own strengths and weaknesses so that we are an attractive proposition to new prospective members.

What makes your group unique?

We want to do the right thing for both our members and our supplier partners – if whilst we do this we create something that makes us slightly unique then happy days! First and foremost we have to get the basics right – providing our members with access to great brands, great terms, net pricing and activity plans from our supplier partners that activate brands in our channels. We provide a free web-2-print service which allows members to produce bespoke brochures to support brand activation plans. Does this make us unique? Not really, so I guess what sets us apart from other groups are two things; firstly, we are truly member owned through shareholding – membership is an investment, not an annual membership fee. It works if the members get the benefits (which we are delivering) and also a return on their investment (which is also happening). Secondly, our central warehousing and logistics facility, NDN, allows us to buy in scale and pass on the majority of the benefits in net pricing and more realistic minimum order quantities. This is wholly owned by the group so we are able to make those decisions independently rather than sub-contract the service to another member. This also allows us to provide a route to market solution for our supplier partners to both members (55+) and other third party customers (120+) that cannot easily access the brands we support.

Do you have an own brand range?

No – and currently no plans to introduce one – we are 100% committed to our branded supplier partners.

Do you run promotions? What kind of promotional offers do you have?

Of course, they are integral to the activation plans of our supplier partners. We have an annual schedule which we agree with all of our partners and they cover a wide variety of product categories and channels of trade. We also have the ability to launch new products outside of this schedule so that our members do not miss any great new product launch opportunities. Our members are able to support these plans with their own bespoke brochures, improving the visibility of the brands’ activation plans.

Do you run events for members?

We certainly do, the main activities are member and supplier networking events, the next of which is in June at Whittlebury Hall near Silverstone. We also run regular trade weeks to generate further interest in our suppliers’ brands. We always maintain that we want the investment in time and effort to be worthwhile for everyone concerned.

What news do you have to share with us?

We do not have any major announcements to make – it really is business as usual! We continue to focus upon the basics – access to all of those things already mentioned – whilst growing our head office team to support and deliver upon our promises. When our next set of results are available we will readily share the headlines for you, but just as a taster our central warehouse and logistics facility, NDN, is averaging 50% + growth this year.