New Board Directors appointed

Sugro is a democratic organisation with one member and one vote and, therefore, irrespective of the size of the wholesaler or the representative percentage of turnover within Sugro, everyone has an equal say and opportunity within the company. However, to assist the group in the development of definitive directions, the members will elect a Board of Directors from within who will represent the interests of the overall membership at Board level.

At the recent Annual General Meeting we had two Directors up for re-election and, in line with the constitutional structure, wholesalers are entitled to put their names forward and, of course, if they do so the election process is then triggered and the election takes place.

As a result of that election, we have two new Directors voted by the members, for the members. Firstly, Mr Iain Hill, a wholesale member based in Beith in Scotland; Iain is also actively involved in the Scottish Wholesale Association and for the last two years has been President of that organisation and we are delighted to welcome him on to the Board. The second new Director is Mr Derek O’Reilly, from O’Reilly Confectioners, based in Newry, Northern Ireland. O’Reilly’s is a long standing, family business; is a substantial wholesale business and is amongst the biggest wholesalers we have within Sugro. O’Reilly’s has been a member of National Wholesale Confectioners Ltd since its inception and Derek’s years of experience as a member and wholesaler will certainly bring value to the Board and, with the continuation of experience from Northern Ireland into our Board of Directors, I look forward to the contribution he will make.

Certainly, when elections take place, an element of turmoil will begin to exist but now that the elections are over and the Directors are in place, we are back to business; the business of developing commercial deals for our Sugro wholesalers to grow and develop turnover and profitability for their businesses.

The Scottish Wholesale Association Conference

I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at the SWA conference that took place in mid June. This is always a good, informative conference with friends and good company. My speech revolved around the inter-relationship of suppliers and wholesalers and how both parties fail to work together as closely as they could, primarily due to the corporate internal conflicts and goals, which are at odds with the requirements of our category, and wholesalers in a general sense, chasing the deal without necessarily delivering value on the promotions made at the time of negotiation. In addition, there is, of course, the independent retailer believing that by not promoting they make more money than actively promoting when, in fact, the promotional profile within the independent retail store would actually generate consumer confidence regarding the competitiveness of that store rather than the overall retail market place.

I believe the contents of the speech were warmly received, however, as usual we had a mix of people who did not believe that any of the content applied to them. However, as I kept reminding everybody, this situation applied to everyone present in that room and it was important that they recognised that situation and went back to their businesses to see what could be done to make the relevant changes.

There is a Powerpoint presentation available. If you would like it, please request it through the comment section, leaving your email address.

National Cuppa Day

For many years we have backed and firmly believed in the principle of My Shop is Your Shop (MSYS). It is a fantastic campaign bringing to the attention of consumers the need for community stores and the importance that these stores hold in the future maintenance and development of community within their locality.

Last month Sugro participated in MSYS during National Independent's Week, and specifically the central event, National Cuppa Day. I went out with Chris Rolfe, a journalist from Retail Newsagent, and we had an excellent morning visiting retailers in the Manchester area who were participating in the event and enjoying a cup of tea with their customers. I do believe that the campaign in its current format will always connect with existing customers. However, having been on the shop floor during the event, I can see that there is a requirement to gear up the community store campaign directed primarily at UK consumers. They need to understand the importance of protecting community stores, whether they are independent or on the high street, in order to avoid the growth of the 'clone city'. We don't need to encourage behemoth retail businesses that support corporate goals, we need to support individuals who provide a community service aimed at local customers. Therefore, I will be looking to convince the FWD to drive this campaign in a much bigger way, directly towards the conscience of consumers and the eradication of cloning throughout our towns and cities.

Sugro Annual Conference 2010

Every May Sugro holds its Annual Conference comprising two major events. Firstly, the Trade Show held on the Friday with 53 suppliers and over 200 deals and promotions for Sugro wholesalers to take advantage of. More importantly these are backed up with a national marketing template for the individual wholesale businesses to bring together a promotional leaflet on a local basis, selling and moving through Trade Show deals for their customers. In excess of £13 million worth of stock at wholesale was purchased and, certainly by the end of June, all of the promotional leaflets would have been distributed, the stock sold and delivered, and consequently huge volumes for our members, giving them an advantage over competitors in their area.

Secondly, on the Saturday we have a business session, this year made up of interviews with senior personnel from within our major supplier base, together with an outline of a survey that we conducted at the end of 2009. It certainly proved to be an interesting business session, even though trying to get a response from the audience to some of the points was a bit like trying to get blood out of a stone. Overall, the commercial side of our conference and business session proved to be successful and we now look forward to our next Annual Conference in May 2011 which will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate in Manchester.

How to alienate yourself from small stores without really trying

In a recent interview Jerry Marwood, the Managing Director of Spar UK, effectively announced the future alienation of small store profile with regard to CTNs and Off-Licences by saying: “one trick ponies don’t stand a chance. CTN’s are doomed.” I fully agree that the diversification of offer is important, but I also think that Jerry may have misunderstood the shopping mission of consumers visiting CTNs or, as Jerry would state, “one trick pony” locations.

The specialisation and development of that USP is actually important and the maintenance and the local knowledge of that USP is also key. We have a CTN customer who has made it his goal to provide magazines and newspapers on request, irrespective of how specialised they are. This has now developed into a major initiative for the store and customers are even referred to that store by W H Smith staff if they are unable to obtain the specialist magazine or newspaper they require. This is certainly a store that trades very strongly as a “one trick pony” and, as far as its customers are concerned, they would not wish to see it become a plagiaristic copy of the perceived range and requirement as laid down by major multiples or large convenience store profile rules of consumer engagement.

I genuinely believe that the development of a USP within a “one trick pony” format is as sustainable, if not more sustainable, than increased operational costs for a small store to broaden their range into chilled; fresh; green grocery; bakery and food to go, because the risks that the investment and the additional cost incur will bring on a greater opportunity for administration and receivership, than developing the USP within the operational costs which is far more relevant to the turnover and profitability of that small store.

It is unusual for me to disagree with Jerry Marwood because he has proven experience and expertise in the development and management of Spar UK, but sorry Jerry, I have to disagree with you on this point as I genuinely believe there are still opportunities.