LDL | SUPPLIER PROFILE
Efficiency is key for LDL, as they operate with just 37 employees
which we love as it really shows our vision for the future. “We have also been able to push forward with amazing technology to add to the breadth of products and services that we can offer to our customers. Now, we are continuing to grow, so everyone can benefit from the services and products we provide.”
Solution-driven
The strategy is clearly working. This year they report they are on track to hit £14m turnover.
“The changes Ross and I have made make every single bit of this business as efficient as it can possibly be,” Noble says. “We run it with just 37 employees and from a relatively small warehouse, which is why we have to be as efficient as we possibly can. And, at the end of the day, all of the investment that we’ve made in our people, in our systems and techno logy is to ensure we can deliver what our customers want us to deliver
from where we are.” Certainly, when you’re dealing with
more than 12,000 SKUs and £1.3m worth of stock, efficiency really is everything. All of which, they proudly explain, allows them to keep their order fulfilment rates at a “world class” level of around 98%.
But what is it exactly that makes them and their LDL part of the ‘next generation’ of dis - tributors?
“Distribution used to be just about logistics – getting a product from A to B,” says Noble. “That’s still a part of it of course, but we see our role much more about creating solutions for our brand partners and our customers. Our brand partners rely on us to take their
LDL Components operates out of a single warehouse in Glossop
Consumers may not be coming into KBB retailers and asking about sustainable products yet but that isn’t a reason not to consider it
Ross Darroch, director, LDL Components
allowed
raw components and put them into solutions for end consumers.” This focus on creating solutions is most evident when it comes to its partnership with Blum, which is at the heart of the company’s strategy. LDL, they say, carries a wider range of Blum components than Blum UK. In fact, so key is the Blum brand to LDL – and its retail customers – that its other brand partners, including Ninka, Furnipart, Agoform and Peka, have been chosen based on their own quality assurances but also how well they complement Blum products and sustainability ethos. These additional brand partnerships have, very importantly, to
them create unique
elements, including a variety of wood and glass finishes for Blum drawer boxes, that not only give LDL’s retail ers flexibility of design, but also the capacity to offer something different to their competitors.
Forward-thinking As well as a continued emphasis on providing
a solid service to its
customers – of which independent KBB retailers are “a core part” – the future of the business is very much driven by sustainability. An angle that again chimes with this idea of LDL being a ‘new generation’ of distributor. This spotlight on sustainability not
only covers product sourcing, logis - tics and packaging, but they’ve even
December 2023 •
gone as far as choosing sustainably sourced uniforms.
“Sustainability is a big part of our strategy both product-wise and operationally speaking,” explains Noble. “It’s a natural evolution for the business and something we both feel strongly about. You could argue that it’s perhaps not the best time commercially to invest in sustainability, but it’s something we feel is important. We absorb the negative impact on sustainable elements of our strategy, so it doesn’t affect the end price to our customers. “As an SME, it’s particularly expen- sive to push the sustainability message, but we view it as an important element of our journey as a business. We’re not preaching to anyone, but we do hope to build awareness of the importance of sustainability and to get retailers asking more questions about the origins of the products they source.” Darroch adds: “There is an appetite already from consumers for more sustainable products. You can see it with electric cars and groceries. People do care. Consumers may not be coming into retailers and asking about sustainable products yet, but that isn’t a reason not to consider it.” Clearly service and sustainability are
core elements of LDL today and in the future, but what other aims do Darroch and Noble have for the business? “We want to continue to do what we do best,” says Noble. “And that is to provide an exceptional service, innovate from within, work closely with our supply partners to develop the best solutions we can and to be as flexible as we can for our customers as their needs inevitably change with time.”
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