‘We consider ourselves to be The Alternative Buying Group’ – NBC

The last 12 to 18 months have seen strong revenue growth for NBC’s member companies – over £8 million year on year – and a significant investment in resourcing the organisation, reported managing director David Lunt at NBC’s AGM.

David Lunt: ‘We are focused upon delivering financial benefits for our members, but we should not forget that these are achieved by dealing with people.’

Following the appointment of Mohsin Bootwala, managing director of MB Distribution (Blackburn), NBC now has a full complement of member directors. “The appointment of key roles supporting suppliers, members and marketing activities are essential to continue with our collaborations,” said Lunt.

He added: “Since the group started, we have distributed over £12 million in member terms, 100% in full and on time, which is a significant financial benefit of membership of NBC.”

A key topic for discussion at the AGM was the current status of consolidation plans by suppliers and how these will affect the ability of independent businesses to retain access to brands. NBC chairman David Longfellow commented: “Whilst we understand the commercial challenges that our suppliers are facing, we wish to support them in providing solutions that benefit suppliers, members and consumers.

“By working collaboratively and developing our route-to-market solution – NDN – we can support suppliers and provide our members with access to great brands, at great net pricing, in realistic minimum order quantities. Since the group started, NDN has delivered over £20 million worth of net pricing benefits.”

Members present at the AGM were given a demonstration of the NBC Toolkit – the group’s free marketing services package for members that provides access to digital stationery, digital social media campaigns, print and email campaigns, and PDF tools to customise activation of activities. According to the group, this Toolkit is appealing to the new members that have joined this year and those that enquire about membership.

Concluding by highlighting the advantages of NBC and NDN, Lunt said: “We are focused upon delivering financial benefits for our members, but we should not forget that these are achieved by dealing with people. The financial benefits are clear – sales achieved by getting access to great brands; member terms delivered on time and in full; net pricing benefits from NDN; realistic minimum order quantities; no annual management fees; and being a shareholder of the business. All of this is achieved by people working with people – we may not be the biggest, but we are here, we are approachable, and we consider ourselves to be The Alternative Buying Group for those that share our values.”