The word ‘unprecedented’ has been overused over the past 18 months, but it really is apt. At Sugro we are delighted to be moving back towards normality by hosting our first physical trade show and networking event in Kenilworth. As with everyone else in the world, we at Sugro had to adapt and do things differently during the past 18 months. We were very pleased with the success of our digitally run events where, in a rapidly transforming strategic environment, we were able to provide both Members and Suppliers with what was crucial to success – advanced technological solutions to enable Members and Suppliers to connect and network; however, person-to-person interaction is a key part of wholesale trading and of Sugro’s culture, hence why at Sugro we were very keen to resume face to face events at the earliest opportunity. This was Sugro’s first physical event in almost 2 years, which provided both Members and Suppliers with a much needed opportunity to get together and network after so many months of restrictions. The event provided Sugro with an opportunity to update Members and Supply Partners on Sugro’s 2021 trading progress and 2022 plans, as well as facilitate 1-to-1 networking meetings between Members and Suppliers with over 800 appointments taking place on the day.
Despite the challenging 18 months that the pandemic has brought, Sugro’s group performance has been remarkably strong with the Group being up by 12% in 2020 versus 2019; also, January to July 2021 alone Sugro is up by 22% compared to the same period in 2020. For a more consistent and accurate representation of our growth and progress, we are focusing internally on comparisons to the normal pre-pandemic year of 2019, which has seen growth of 47% in July 2021 versus July in 2019.
Neil Turton, Sugro Managing Director said: “Sugro is one of the first organisations to run a physical event this year. Members and Suppliers were genuinely happy to see each other after so many months of restrictions. The atmosphere throughout the event was very positive with a fantastic spirit seen in both Members and Suppliers which flowed into some substantial business being done on the day.”
Yulia Petitt, Sugro Head of Trading and Marketing commented: “We received some great feedback from our Members and Supply Partners. We were delighted to be able to see our Members and Suppliers in person once again and we were exceptionally pleased with a high level of attendance and participation. We have been eager to resume physical events for some time but we wanted to wait until it was safe to do so. We look forward to delivering our busy events schedule across 2021 and 2022 which will provide both Members and Suppliers with some fantastic opportunities to interact, network and continue to drive the business forward by capitalising on key elements of Sugro strategy which is focussed on further digitalisation, diversification and group data service. The performance of the Group has been exceptionally resilient over the past 18 months and I would like to thank all Members and Suppliers for their continuous support and participation.
I must add, Clare Newton, Sugro Marketing Executive who joined the business from Ryman Stationery only 5 weeks ago, did an excellent job at coordinating and delivering the networking event.”
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