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, Managing Director at National Buying Consortium talks to Wholesale Manager.
Is the market for independent businesses changing?
It certainly is, and having worked in this sector for a number of years the pace appears to be much quicker. We are noting increasing consolidation – of companies, supply chains, and the channels that our sector service. Independent businesses tend to respond more quickly to change and are able to weather the storms or take advantage of growing trends. What we must not forget is that independent businesses are a vital element of the UK economy, providing a wide range of services for consumers at either the point of sale or the point of consumption. This is where consumers get their choice of brands and products, and for our members this is business critical – getting access. Facilitating this access to major brands and products is a MUST for any buying group that supports independent businesses.
How is NBC supporting its members?
NBC provides focused support for its members. Fundamentally, this is about access to major brands – our supplier partners invest in accessing consumers, and working with our group and its members ensure that they are accessible at the point of purchase or consumption. So, if we and our members have access, so do the people that matter – Consumers! In order for this to work well, we work in a strong spirit of collaboration between our group, our members, and our supplier partners. This is the core service that we provide.
What specific services do you provide for your members?
We provide a wide variety of services for our members, one of which is access to a web-2-print brochure service. This provides a flexible business tool to develop specific marketing materials for members to communicate with their own customers. We are constantly seeking ways to improve this and we will update this facility at our member event in June. We also provide constant communication streams between our suppliers and our members – promotions, new product launches, product availability, category information – the key pieces of information that allow our members to maximise the sales opportunities that our suppliers’ brands provide.
How does NBC support its suppliers?
We support our suppliers in three key ways – by providing one point of contact for 58 members; by centralising the administration and support for brand activities; and by facilitating both group and individual member discussions so that everyone is actively engaged in developing sales through the activation of brand plans.
What role does NDN play?
NDN is our flexible warehousing and logistics service that benefits both members and suppliers. It accesses brands from over 50 suppliers and facilitates volume discounts and smaller MOQ’s for our members – an essential service as suppliers continue to consolidate their supply chains. Our suppliers see significant benefit by using and supporting NDN – fundamentally it is a route to market solution. We have 58 engaged members that use the service, and we have third party customers that our suppliers wish us to help them with access to their brands.
Why do you focus upon membership as an investment?
There were a number of reasons why the founding members created the group in 2019 and became an independent buying group in its own right. One of the issues was the payment of membership fees and the lack of transparency regarding true member benefits. By introducing membership as an investment, not only do our member shareholders get great terms, 100% in full and on time, they also have an investment in the company that undertakes all of the activities associated with a buying group, and this incentivises the right kind of behaviours that will ensure its long term health.
What are the simple messages you have for your suppliers and potential new members?
While other groups have modified how they work over the last 4 years, we are a growing group, so we must be doing something right. We are forward thinking, and we know that we cannot stand still, so we will plan to do the right things. Fundamentally, it is about choice – we are THE alternative buying group for those businesses that share our values of independence, trust, transparency and collaboration between our suppliers, our member shareholders, and our group. Our members and suppliers are in safe hands.
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