BMJ
BUILDERS MERCHANTS JOURNAL
Supplier Summit
NBG and Suppliers: working together to benefit businesses
NBG managing director Nick Oates looks at the group’s plans to continue improving the working relationships between NBG, Partners and Suppliers.
Nick Oates opened by explaining the continuation of the Building Our Brand theme from the previous year, with the emphasis on making it “Bigger, Bolder, Better.” He went on to explain that the group wants to build the NBG brand, Partner brands and Supplier brands.
A
The last year “It’s been a turbulent 18 months or so for the UK,” he said. “Wherever we turn it’s been stories of doom and gloom, Brexit should never have happened, we have no plan, the election was a complete disaster for the government, will they survive their term? A weak pound, rising costs and inflation is all impacting on the economy. “Businesses will suffer. Not to mention the long term problems we face with skills shortages, and now the
t the second ever Supplier Summit held at the NBG Conference 2017,
plumbers are going home to Poland. And some sectors in the industry are suffering with product shortages too, affecting supply.” But through all this doom and gloom, Oates claimed the NBG are stronger than ever. “Unlike nationals, independents are more flexible to change. They adapt and they evolve more easily, they take a much longer term view to protect their key staff, to retain their healthy stock levels and invest in the infrastructure, particularly branches. “As a result I believe they grab those opportunities and keep improving and gaining market share meaning they and their supplier brands continue to grow strongly.” NBG are now a one billion pound buying group, double the market growth, up 11.2% in the last twelve months year on year against the same period last year. This compares with about 5% for the industry and 5.4% for RMI,
BMJ January 2018 Bigger, Bolder, Better
Oates said. “We represent 304
branches with a nationwide coverage meaning NBG has both significant presence and scale.”
Oates also spoke about the potential merger with h&b that was discussed earlier in the year: “We quickly realised it wasn’t going to work and talks were stopped. On the flipside, the whole process proved useful for the Board, it prompted the Board to take a fresh look at our approach,
strategies and core values and how we can be better for our suppliers. We want to be working with Suppliers, and be behind them, not pushing against them So the talks helped crystalize the Board’s thinking about our core strengths, our unique benefits and why they matter. “NBG is a democratic partnership: one member, one vote, all equal. Our partners and staff demonstrate integrity in their approach to business, working in the right way. We negotiate deals for the benefit of everyone and Supplier rebates are distributed in full to merchant Partners. NBG Partners commit to share expertise, information and time and actively add value to the group, sharing common values. So in summary the Board wanted to keep building from a really strong base of core values.”
Core Values “Looking towards 2018 and what lies ahead for the merchant sector, the NBG board has created ‘Core Values’ to “create focus and direction, to ensure that we keep moving forward,” explained Oates. “These strategies link with our core values and the NBG way begins with ‘Relations’. We
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
