National Buying Consortium is an innovative buying group, working together to source the best deals, prices and products for independent wholesalers in the FMCG market.
David Lunt, NBC Group Managing Director talks to Wholesale Manager.
What are the benefits of joining your group?
Scale – the holy grail for buying groups. Or is it? For a long time buying groups in our industry have created scale and delivered benefits for members through collective purchasing power. And to differentiate themselves, they have created added value services for their members. Typically, the greater benefits would be for the smaller members – especially essential for smaller, independent businesses. But is this enough when we see the degree of consolidation that is happening across all of the channels that we operate in? We believe not.
Our group is relatively small compared to others – we have over 65 members that have a combined turnover of £800m plus, and service over 45,000 outlets in retail, hospitality and catering. Just enough to get the scale necessary for great terms for our members. We have supplier agreements in place with over 100 supplier partners and we have had over 75 applications for membership in the last 12 months alone. So why the level of support from our supplier partners, and why the level of interest from independent businesses wishing to join?
The answer, in our opinion, is that we are not just a buying group. We are a fully integrated buying and distribution group – we operate a buying group function which gets our members access to major brands, at great terms. We also operate a wholly owned distribution facility (NDN) which provides a centralised warehousing and logistics service. They are joined at the hip. NDN does not compete with its own members. NDN provides a safe and flexible route to market solution for suppliers. NDN provides basic but extremely beneficial features for both its members and its third party customers – a central ordering and invoicing point; net pricing – no retrospective claims; realistic minimum order quantities; consolidated orders across the supplier portfolios.
What kind of promotions do you run?
Both the buying group and the distribution facility provide extensive supplier promotions and new product listings as you would expect. And an NBC Toolkit to support those members that have not got their own infrastructure to market themselves to their own customers.
Do you run events for members?
We showcase everything to both our members and suppliers at two events currently – a Trade Show which was in April and a Conference in July.
Do you charge a membership fee?
Our membership model is through shareholding – membership is an investment, not a fee, which is why it is so important to take on the businesses that share our values.
Do you have any supplier testimonials?
This is what we do – and this is what our suppliers think about what we do:
Premier Foods – “Premier Foods has built a strong partnership with NBC, delivering consistent growth and value through an aligned way of working – working alongside NBC to consolidate customers under one account, providing ease and efficiency to the way of working.”
Oatly – “Oatly have now worked with NBC for over 2 years, and the relationship has gone from strength to strength. They offer a simple, cost-effective option to consolidate orders via NDN which allows us to partner with their wide range of customers.”
Purity Soft Drinks – “The consolidation of customers via NDN has proven to be very smooth and efficient, to the point we will be looking to extend this further in the near future.”
Border Biscuits – “We have been trading successfully with Elenie and the team at NBC since early 2024, achieving business growth of over 250% in our first year. Working closely with NBC, we developed and executed a robust annual trade plan, supporting smaller wholesale businesses with lower volume requirements. This collaborative relationship between NBC and Border has enabled our product range to reach more customers, increasing both availability and brand awareness.”
What makes your group unique?
NBC may not be the biggest group or offer a wide variety of services and charge a management fee. What it does do is unique – it buys and distributes – providing real benefits to both members and our supplier partners.
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