SUPPLIER SUMMIT
BMJ
BUILDERS MERCHANTS JOURNAL
a greater focus and will be a consideration when developing new deals.
Number five on our list is increased use of e-trading solutions to improve efficiency in ordering, information and stock management. The good news is that NBG is responding. Our new hub system is designed to be mobile friendly. Its functionality is created for you our suppliers to speed up communication and provide better data and understanding on trends and issues. We are constantly monitoring how we keep pace with the speed of developments.
“ 12
As independents we have great strength in being able to adapt quickly, and evolving and taking a longer term view of the business
time we have four generations working side by side. All with different ways of communicating our reliance on technology is changing the way we operate. Some 35bn devices will be connected to the internet by 2020. The third element that our Barometer threw up was Partners’ concerns about social media and its impact on customer engagement and brand building.
Four on our list is having a competitive ecommerce offering. It’s an area that we
Today we are taking the further step to develop this area and we are launching an electronic direct invoicing service to ensure that all invoices from our suppliers are sent electronically to our Partners. For suppliers this means no more printing, posting or lost or delayed invoices and for Partners it means instant data which can be invoice matched automatically, reducing errors. NMBS remains our preferred solution although unlike NMBS this new service will have no central payment or payment guarantee but it is an electronic payment pipeline linking suppliers and Partners.
must improve on. Individually we won’t beat Amazon, but collectively in Partnership with our suppliers and supporting each other’s brands, we really have a great opportunity. Some manufacturers have already developed online offerings; we want to support those offerings where they include and support NBG stockists in the supply chain. A good example of this is Fakro, who are already demonstrating stockist support with their online initiative. Amongst the NBG buying teams this will have
“
Number six on the list of things that keeps our Partner CEOs awake at night is attracting new recruits. It’s a challenge we all face today, that more than 1 in 4 workers have been with their employer for less than one year, half of them for less than five years.
As independents we have great strength of adapting quickly evolving and taking a longer term view. We’re good at protecting our staff, maintaining our stock levels and investing in infrastructure. In NBG this is happening already with many new different types of branches being opened by Partners: QS Supplies with its new self-service concept, DG Timber has its Home Improvement Centre, Adrian White and Higgins have both purchased garden centre sites to further expand their offering and Grant & Stone have their new timber centre, Chandlers have their new virtual branch in the form of their award winning website and, of course, there are many more examples. NBG also needs new recruits to bring in new ideas and challenges and NBG is now driving our recruitment. We want high quality merchants ideally with a specialist knowledge to join us and we are delighted that we have seven new Partners since our last conference so we are making good progress and there are more in the pipeline. In conclusion by continuing to adapt and build strong brands NBG will be looking forward to the challenges ahead.
January 2019
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
