New initiatives from Unitas to enhance trading with suppliers

Unitas managing director Darren Goldney told Cash & Carry Management about three new initiatives designed to improve trading with suppliers:

Optimum Distribution Tracker

Over the past four weeks, Unitas has mapped the customer base of every one of its 179 members, using 30 different classifications of customers, such as CTNs, burger vans, forecourts and leisure centres. This information will be available to suppliers from late November in an Excel document, and from April via a portal to Unitas’ intranet. Using this information, suppliers can then ensure that each of their SKUs is sold and promoted through cash & carries and delivered wholesalers appropriate to each product’s target market.

On-shelf Availability/Service Tracker

Unitas has worked with the former Today’s supplier council to access supplier outbound service data to Unitas members. It has also started to gather its members’ inbound service data for the same suppliers in order to create a tracker showing the two measures and highlighting any differences. Furthermore, Unitas has anonymised each product category to give the suppliers involved a benchmark on service levels.

Promotional Compliance Tool

Unitas has developed an app for members to photograph promotional activity in their depots, in order to provide evidence to suppliers of compliance. The same app will be used to monitor activity related to NPD. The app will be trialled in January with a view to rolling it out from April, and the information will be given to suppliers via a portal to Unitas’ intranet.

Tel: Unitas Wholesale (01302) 249909