NBC once again held a very successful event for both members and suppliers at The Whittlebury Park Hotel near Silverstone, writes David Lunt, Managing Director, and David Longfellow, Chairman.
Day One was the annual golf event, for those dedicated and able enough to compete to a very high standard – well, they own some sticks, that is always a good starting point.
Day Two was the networking event itself, and on a very sunny day with a view overlooking the golf course, members and suppliers were able to spend a full day networking and getting to understand the opportunities that exist for developing their businesses.
In our fourth year it was great to reflect upon how the attendance has grown and we really appreciate the support from our supplier partners and our member owners to be able to take the time out from the day job to be part of the event.
A big thank you goes out to our sponsors – Britvic, Boost, Coca Cola, Pepsico, Suntory and Swizzles.
David Lunt commented on the event: “It was fantastic to see everyone in the same room with a real sense of energy. We were able to introduce the full team we now have, including Elenie Abbott and Caroline Barr, our newer members of the management team, as well as some of the newer members to the group: The Atrium, Northern Retail Group, Marion Trading and Candy Hero. Our suppliers were able to showcase their brands and their activities, and we had a great opportunity to detail our free web-2-print service for members’ brochures. All in all, a great day!”
In the evening a dinner was held to recognise a select group of suppliers that had gone that extra mile in what often feels like a marathon.
David Longfellow commented on the evening: “As chairman it is great to see how far we have come in such a short time. The supplier award is dedicated to those that ensure we get access to brands, with simple processes that make it easy to do business, with great people at the heart of it all, and most importantly generating results – that company is Suntory and we encourage all of our suppliers to respond in a similar way.”
To summarise the event and its growing significance, here are some fast facts which will help to illustrate – NBC has over 55 members and services over 120 third party customers; since the group started, it has repaid £7 million in member terms and over £100 million in terms and income through the group; and in 2022 NBC’s company income grew by 53%.
The group is very much looking forward to its next significant member event, the Annual General Meeting, and sharing its financial results with its member shareholders.
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.
It is first and foremost a member-owned company and is dedicated to working transparently with members and suppliers to grow each other’s businesses with a collaborative and unified approach to trading.
The group has a varied breadth of members in the FMCG market, servicing a wide customer reach across the UK.
NBC is led by an astute management team, each with decades of hands-on experience in the wholesale, cash and carry and FMCG sectors.
David Longfellow, Chairman, has over 25 years’ experience in FMCG including 15 years in wholesale at J L Brooks, Leeds. This year the business marks its 100th year and he strives to meet the ever-changing customer and market demands. The importance of the customer and forging great relationships with suppliers is at the heart of David’s approach.
David Lunt, Managing Director, has over 35 years’ experience in the wholesale and cash and carry trade. As a successful and versatile sales and business development professional he has a highly customer-focused approach, with extensive experience managing wholesaler and supplier relationships.
David Lunt adds: “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.”
NBC also strongly believes that the group has a role to play in supporting its supplier partners. It provides 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.
David Lunt says: “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. 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.”
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