BUYING FOCUS
Left: Neil Tidmarsh, of Kingsley
Bathroom Plumbing & Heating Centre
COMMITMENT COUNTS
L
oyalty and trust are important to NBG as a group, and it’s the commitment to these ideals that underpins everything the Category Management Team (CMT) does. That’s according to Neil Tidmarsh, Director at Kingsley Bathroom Plumbing & Heating Centre, in Northampton, Vice Chair of the Plumbing, Heating & Showrooms CMT. “As an organisation, NBG is different from other buying groups,” he says. “If you’re in NBG, then you have the same voice as everyone around the table. We all openly talk about our individual businesses, we give and receive advice, and are always happy to share ideas. We all personally negotiate and manage the NBG deals, so feedback from our colleagues, good and bad, is imperative.” Ben Maloney at Woodstock Plumbing & Heating Supplies is also Vice Chair of the CMT. He adds that timescales for deals to run are set out at the start, so the CMT can continually monitor the current deals and keep an eye on those drawing to an end.
Maloney says: “We might initially establish a need for a new product or range of products. This could include a fighting brand to complement a market leader, or it might be a new category completely. We then ask Partners via our NBG Hub, more recently via WhatsApp group chats, who they are currently using as Suppliers, what they think of them and whether they could switch their
DOWN UNDER DEAL
Following a CMT meeting, a need was identified for a more structured deal in the Wet Underfloor Heating category. Although Partners could access the products, it was only as part of other deals and didn’t represent a particularly competitve offer. Tidmarsh says: “We canvassed all Partners and invited all the existing
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Suppliers in this category for our initial warm-up meetings. We established who would be able to fulfil our volumes, then invited a trimmed-down list to tender.”
Following further
discussions, three options were presented to the Partners; each of the recommendations showed an enhancement to the Partners over the
existing deal options. The three Suppliers were ratified by the CMT and a written recommendation report distributed to all Partners. NBG Partners are now benefitting from a clear route and product offer, while the three chosen Suppliers get increased turnover, direct access to business decision makers, a steady and reliable
flow of business. The deal has also opened the door to merchants that the Suppliers had on their target list but had never previously engaged with.
Tidmarsh says: “In our opinion, it’s a great sustainable deal that will be beneficial to all parties. Hopefully, we are all at the start of a positive and fruitful relationship.”
January 2025
The NBG Category Management Teams may differ slightly depending on the product sector, but all exist to develop and promote the best deals for Partners.
spend if the Supplier lost the current deal.” Once the CMT has an idea which Suppliers it wants to talk more to, they are invited to meet a small group of Partners. “It’s more of a ‘warm-up’, informal chat to establish if there is a desire to supply NBG. It’s a bit like a first date, where we get to know each other and try to establish some common ground.” Once all the invited Suppliers have been met, the CMT will draw up a shortlist and consider the whole package. Maloney adds that the extra time spent with potential Suppliers helps the CMT understand what it can do to help them achieve their goals. He says: “It’s not just about what’s in it for us. It goes without saying that we aim to achieve the best price and terms when negotiating. We find that we can achieve the excellence in buying that we are after by working with Suppliers, rather than against
Right: Ben Maloney, of Woodstock Plumbing &
Heating Supplies.
them. For NBG Partners, excellence in buying can be measured by the diverse range of products available at the very best prices, this enables us all to equally compete with competitors.”
The next stage is to formally invite a potential or existing Supplier to tender and to a further meeting to discuss a deal in more detail. Tidmarsh says: “It’s a collaboration, not a battle. NBG continually nurture our Supplier relationships, they are very important to us. We orchestrate and react to spot deals, new products and innovations. We can quickly rally interest via the NBG Hub or the WhatsApp chats when Suppliers need to hit numbers or rebate thresholds approach. The relationship with our Suppliers works both ways: when we need some help, whether that be extra support or extra supply as a group, we’ve built up some loyalty credit to cash in.”
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