JW Filshill and its convenience store group, KeyStore, have again been ranked number one by suppliers in an independent UK-wide industry survey.
The Advantage Group Report asks suppliers to rate a defined set of wholesalers and symbol groups across the UK, covering categories ranging from business development to supply chain management, payment processes, and execution of promotional and marketing plans.
The Glasgow-based wholesaler came out on top in the wholesale channel programme for the ninth year in succession while KeyStore led the fascia groups for the third consecutive year.
Filshill’s Chief Executive Simon Hannah said: “It has been part of our strategy for many years to take a partnership approach to working with suppliers by collaborating with them, sharing information and making them part of our success story – we view suppliers as part of the extended Filshill family.
“Through open and honest dialogue with suppliers we can identify 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.”
Hannah added that adopting virtual meeting techniques during the Covid crisis had been beneficial in strengthening relationships with suppliers and forging new ones. “Some people we may not have always been able meet face to face pre-Covid for various reasons found it easier to engage with us in virtual meetings, and that gave us an opportunity to give them a better insight into our business and plans for the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, Unitas Wholesale came top of the supplier rating in the Advantage Benchmarking Report’s buying groups and selected leading wholesalers’ category, as well as in the buying group-only survey for the second year running.
Unitas saw particular improvements to their rankings from the previous survey in the areas of business relationships, personnel and organisation, and operational execution.
“It’s our aspiration to be first-choice business partner for suppliers and therefore we are absolutely delighted to have been ranked number one once again in both reports,” said Managing Director John Kinney.
“Receiving the positive feedback that we have on how well we collaborate with our partners and have progressed since the previous survey is extremely pleasing in what has been a very challenging period for the wholesale channel. I’d personally like to thank all those supplier partners who completed the survey and supported us to achieve this great position.”
NAM Implications:
- At a time when we all need the best wholesaling available…
- A pointer for all…
- Presumably, they are also top of suppliers’ virtual meeting practices.
