Welcome to the July issue of Wholesale Manager. Sugro UK, the member-owned buying and marketing group comprising over 90 independent wholesalers, announced the expansion of its membership with the addition of The DBC Group Ltd as a new member to the group. The DBC Group Ltd, previously known as The Discount Brand Company, based in Biggleswade, have been trading since February 2013, supplying a wide range of food and non-food products across the UK and overseas. With a new focus on Van Sales, they are upweighting their UK and Retail supply focus.

READ THE JULY ISSUE HERE

Wholesale buying group Confex has added yet another member to its ranks, taking the total number of members to 223 across 241 UK depots. The latest wholesale member to join the group is Rowan International which sources and distributes FMCG brands, managing residual stock from the world’s biggest manufacturers in categories such as personal care, household and confectionery. With more than 40 years’ experience and as one of the UK’s biggest residual stock distributors, Rowan International’s turnover soared by 24% in 2022-23 to hit £56m.

Buying and marketing group, Fairway Foodservice, is celebrating 40 years since inception, with the announcement of incredible growth results and plans for the future. In 1984, Frozen Food Distributors – as Fairway Foodservice was known – began with five wholesalers and a collective turnover of £7m. Fast forward 40 years, and the company is now 18 members strong and has a collective turnover of £1.1bn, double that of its last anniversary in 2014.

A successful Walsall convenience retailer has relaunched two existing stores to become Go Local Extra and Go Local fascia stores. With over four decades of experience, Pete Khela operated under the Costcutter fascia for 30 years. Steve Moore, head of retail at Parfetts, told our Who’s Who in Wholesale page how he worked with Pete on the revamp and what expansion plans Go Local has.

UK shoppers spent a total of £50.2bn on FMCG in Q1 2024, this is an uplift of 6.2% compared with the same period last year. The NIQ Retail Spend Barometer provides a complete overview of spending in the FMCG sector (ambient and fresh food and drink, healthcare, toiletries, homecare and general merchandise) in the UK. In The Interview, Ben Morrison, Retail Services Director UK & IRE at NIQ, comments on what is driving the growth and how he foresees the FMCG category performing for the rest of this year.

The Federation of Wholesale Distributors held its annual conference fwdLive! at The Midland, Manchester, with the theme Unlocking the Power of Wholesale. Presentations included a political update from DGA, social media & influencer marketing by PR agency Cirkle, AI & global wholesale by Choco and wholesale’s road to net zero by 3 Keel. Jill Livesey, Managing Director, Lumina Intelligence & MCA, discussed the future of food-to-go.

Enjoy reading the issue.

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