United Kingdom, September 16, 2013- In the food business, wholesale suppliers act as brokers between retail merchants and manufacturers. These suppliers operate from warehouses or facilities where food products are stored. Every day, they distribute a vast array of food products like vegetables, meat products, dairy products, fruits, frozen food, confectionary and seafood. There are suppliers who supply only certain items. Grocery items are supplied by merchant wholesalers, and systems distributors supply miscellaneous items like coffee, tea, seasonings and spices. On the other hand, specialty wholesalers supply poultry and dairy products.
In the same way, there are convenience store suppliers who supply various items to convenience shops that are housed within gas stations or located in busy streets. The process of acquiring clients by these suppliers is different. Since these suppliers operate from warehouses, so they do not entertain walk-in customers. They do not even display their products like other stores. Generally, clients seek an appointment with wholesale suppliers if they want to purchase products from them. The suppliers make a presentation of food items available with them. Only bulk orders are accepted. Suppliers offer various processing options like cutting, packaging and seasoning. Usually clients like vendors prefer to purchase food products without processing. There are two reasons for this. They do it as a cost cutting measure and because they already have in-house processing facilities.
It is very essential to have good rapport and synergy between suppliers and retailers so that they can maintain an effective and successful business relationship. This is particularly important since food items are highly perishable and there can be complicated problems at times due to this factor. However, the plus point is that there is certain degree of job security in this line due to continual demand for food and this motivates organizations to stay put in this line of business.
Today's Group is the largest independent buying group in UK, with a buying power in excess of £5 billion, serving their independent wholesale suppliers and convenience store suppliers. The group’s strength in numbers and volume allows it to negotiate the best prices and promotions from all the major food, drink and non-food suppliers so that its wholesalers can pass the benefits on to their retailers. It has almost 200 wholesale depots in its network and 1,600 independent retailers.