VIEW FROM THE TOP
MD HIGHLIGHTS STRENGTH OF NBG COMMUNITY
Eight months to the day since he joined independent buying group NBG, Managing Director Mark Hughes took to the stage at the annual Conference to talk about strong communities, building brands and buying better.
N
BG is much more than a collective of merchants, according to Managing Director Mark Hughes. He told the assembled delegates at the buying organisation’s annual Supplier Summit, that NBG is a genuine community of like-minded businesses supported by the central team and its Suppliers and Partners.
“The concept of community is key to the way that NBG operates. Strengthening Our Community is very much the theme for this year’s event. Supporting our Partners in sustaining and expanding their businesses within the NBG partnership is exactly what we’re here to do, while benefitting our Suppliers in their sales efforts too,” he said. Across the group, Partners and Suppliers are living and breathing these values. Hughes continued: “Collaboration remains key, just as it always has done ever since NBG was founded back in 2003.” He added that was a good thing, bearing in mind the challenges of the past few years. “From the pricing volatility we saw off the back of the pandemic to the commodity
January 2025
shortages impacting our supply chain in light of the war in Ukraine, we haven’t seen much stability for our businesses to plan around since 2019,” he said.
“We have endured unprecedented levels of price inflation over the last couple of years followed most recently by price deflation. We’re not out of the woods in that respect just yet. But we have a new government, and the early signs suggest we just might be heading towards a brighter chapter for our industry.“
However, Hughes pointed out that the scale of ambition is quite dramatic, and
will probably need housebuilding numbers to double over the term of the current Parliament.
“We can certainly see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he continued. “It is just too early to know if that light is the sunny uplands of growth and prosperity or a big train heading straight for us! I prefer to be optimistic. In my view, and I know this is a view shared by the Executive Board, the most agile businesses are those most likely to weather the storm and to then begin to flourish.”
Hughes added that prior experience shows that independent merchants within the major buying groups have been the most likely to succeed when the market takes a downturn.
“This was evidenced by the recent BMF and NBG KPI benchmarking project, which looked at the trading performance of merchants across the industry. The project showed how NBG Partners outperformed the wider market. The reality is Partners and Suppliers within an agile, forward-thinking
5
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 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
