60 CASH & CARRY
Supplying the masses
You can’t run a successful small retail or hospitality business without the support of a strong cash and carry close by. We take a look at Ireland’s top rated cash and carry businesses and the growing list of services they offer to their customers. Fionnuala Carolan reports
BWG’s Value Centre, Musgrave MarketPlace and Stonehouse Marketing Ltd are among the leading and most sophisticated logistics operations in the country. Between them, they service thousands of retail and hospitality businesses in every corner of Ireland and drive one another on with ever-increasing service levels and efficiencies. These cash and carry businesses offer customers access to competitively priced products and innovative offerings via the buying power of a group. They have become ever more sophisticated in recent years with the likes of BWG’s ShopLink portal allowing customers to order in real time. The e-commerce platform can connect to a retailer’s EPOS and is fully integrated and live
with the supply chain enabling them to do business more efficiently. In order for the supply chain to run smoothly, the cash and carry business must work closely with suppliers to ensure a market-leading range for their retail, licensed and hospitality customers. They need to be able to offer a host of services such as emergency top up delivery, special offers tailored to local businesses and to be able to track market trends and meet demand in an ever-changing market. Key trends strongly influence the products the cash and carry outlets offer and the main players have responded quickly to fulfil new health and wellbeing demands over the past five years.
Reducing the environmental impact of these huge operations has been a real focus too. From the use of solar energy to employing the most energy efficient fuels and vehicles, lower carbon output has been the goal in all aspects of the business. These practices are mirrored across the supply chain but have been championed at cash and carry level. Covid-19 and Brexit have placed greater demands than ever on the local cash and carry as retailers were under pressure for extra products as people panic bought during these times. Cash and carry businesses garnered great loyalty from their customers for helping them go above and beyond to service the country when we needed it most.
Value Centre goes the extra mile
With 22 locations all around Ireland, Value Centre is always close to its customer base
FACTFILE: Name: Value Centre, 4 Aces, Better Deal Number of branches nationwide: 22 Number of customers: Over 20,000 Number of lines in product listing: Over 10,000 Tagline: ‘Your Local Wholesaler’ Ordering options: Online, in-branch, telesales, dedicated sales developers Typical opening hours: 9am - 5.30pm Retail partners: XL Size-range of outlets: 12,000 sq ft – 60,000 sq ft
ShelfLife October 2021 | www.shelflife.ie
Paul Bealin
Q&A with Paul Bealin, sales director, Wholesale Division at BWG Foods
Q: As your customers’ day-to-day business lives are extremely busy, how have you innovated to ensure your service makes it as easy and convenient as possible for them to secure orders when needed? A: One of our greatest strengths is that, as Ireland’s largest national network of cash and carry branches with 22 locations all around
Ireland, we are always close to our customer base. Our business model is one based on meeting the needs of our customers allied with our expert team of buyers who closely monitor consumer behaviour and the latest trends to ensure we have the right product mix available at all times. Our award-winning e-commerce platform ‘Shoplink’ can connect seamlessly to EPOS and is fully integrated and live with the supply chain. Customers can access ‘Shoplink’ 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, enabling them to do business with us more efficiently and giving them back more of their time for other aspects of their business. With a free and flexible
