WHOLESALER JW Filshill and its convenience store group, KeyStore, have been ranked number one by suppliers in an independent UK-wide industry survey.
The respected Advantage Group Report, which asks suppliers to rate a defined set of wholesalers and symbol groups across several categories ranging from category and business development to supply chain management and execution of promotional and marketing plans, saw Filshill come out on top in the wholesale channel programme for the eighth year in succession while KeyStore led the fascia groups for the second consecutive year.
Simon Hannah, Glasgow-based Filshill’s managing director, said: “This is testament to the hard work of our teams’ commitment and our strategy over many years of working in partnership with our suppliers – collaborating with them, sharing information and making them part of our success story.
“We’ve always taken the view that having an open and honest dialogue with suppliers leads to opportunities and by sharing the insight/data we gather from our supply chain technology we are able to find solutions, predict key growth areas and work together on future plans, including new product development.”
The convenience/symbol group survey, which included over 300 online submissions from suppliers, was conducted between February and May, as was the wholesaler survey which had over 200 submissions from suppliers. All submissions were anonymous.
One supplier contributing to the wholesale survey commented: “As a really disciplined, very category supplier-focused business, JW Filshill actively allow you to discuss with individual departments, whether it be marketing, operations, buying team, or right across the board. They have a very open policy of collaborative working which allows us to share information.”
In the fascia group survey, another supplier said: “KeyStore fascia is a family-run business and they are very committed to all their suppliers and customers – you get the full package with them. What they say they’ll do, they actually do!”
The £155 million-turnover wholesaler has recently launched its first KeyStore More garage forecourt in the north of England and has ambitious plans to expand the KeyStore estate as the country moves out of lockdown.
JW Filshill, one of Scotland’s oldest independent food and drink wholesalers, supplies 187 KeyStore convenience stores across Scotland and the north of England. Plans are under way to relocate to a brand new, purpose-built distribution centre near Glasgow Airport.
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