Sugro networking event highlights group and member successes

More than 700 meetings took place between Sugro’s members and suppliers at its recent networking event and business conference.

Held in Newcastle-under-Lyme, the two-day event commenced with a business conference that features speeches from industry leaders, as well as Sugro’s leadership team, who outlined the group’s key initiatives and strategic accomplishments over the past year.

A highlight of the event was the Sugro member anniversary awards, which went to:

• North West Wholesale (10th anniversary).

• C&S Distributions (20th anniversary).

• Becsco (25th anniversary).

• Youings Wholesale (140th anniversary).

Emma Senior, managing director at Sugro UK, commented: “Our networking event is one of the highlights of our calendar. With an increase of attendees and meeting numbers each year, it is fantastic to see so many members and suppliers engaging in fantastic business conversations. It was our biggest ‘speed dating’ session to date.”

Yulia Petitt, head of commercial & marketing, added: “The performance of the group has been exceptional over the past few years with the current year to date growth of 12% year on year, and with substantial multi-million turnover business done on the day of the networking event, I believe that the group is set for another successful year of growth.”

Sugro recently announced that it has joined forces with one of its members, Rayburn Trading, to supply an extensive range of toiletries, household items, personal care essentials and medicated goods to other Sugro members.

Rayburn’s expertise and long-standing supplier relationships will also ensure that Sugro members benefit from highly competitive pricing. In addition to range and pricing benefits, Sugro members can expect timely deliveries, reduced lead times and enhanced overall supply chain efficiency, as well as support from a dedicated account manager.

Petitt said: “Diversification is one of the key pillars of Sugro’s commercial strategy. Over the past few years, we have successfully launched grocery and pet food categories, with sales growing rapidly. We are thrilled to be able to expand our diverse group categories portfolio even further through our partnership with Rayburn Trading. I have no doubt that the partnership will not only deliver huge benefits to the existing members of the group but will also accelerate new member recruitment.”

In other news, Sugro’s digital signage solution is now available to retail stores supplied by Sugro members. The first installations took place in several retail stores of its member O’Reilly’s Wholesale.

Sugro has also announced a partnership with Lumina Intelligence to deliver food-to-go and convenience retail insights to its members.