June 2009

PRESS RELEASE

WHOLESALERS and suppliers working together can be a “powerful force” if all efforts are channelled in the right direction, according to Iain Hill, president of the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA).

Hill, who is managing director of the Ayrshire-based Sugro-affiliated wholesaler Iain Hill Ltd, told the SWA conference at Crieff: “There is much to be gained by focusing on our end users and helping them to raise standards and drive sales. Joint support from supplier and wholesaler can be a powerful force.”

Suppliers, he said, have the resources both in terms of equipment and data that has the potential to “make a huge difference to our customers’ businesses” while wholesalers are in possession of the all-importance intelligence that can help suppliers to get a better understanding of what is happening at the sharp end of wholesaling.

“The challenge to the industry is to work out how to combine these efforts to maximum effect,” he said.
Events like the conference, Hill continued, provided wholesalers with an opportunity to stress the importance of the wholesale route to market in Scotland – and, crucially, explore ways with wholesalers of addressing current concerns and issues. In the current economic climate, he said, this was even more important.

Hill cited the concern of some Scottish wholesalers over the “increasing trend” among some suppliers to spread their sales forces “ever more thinly” across the country. “Diminishing contact at local level cannot be good in the long-run for either suppliers or wholesalers,” he said. “A good rep, who has time to get to know and understand us, can be a great asset to our wholesale businesses.”

For full coverage of the 2009 SWA Conference, please download our Summer Newsletter.