TWC’s Tom Fender has revealed that Unitas members are outperforming the market across all categories, according to the data company’s most recent findings.
The company’s development director was speaking at the buying group’s annual conference in Athens, where new services were also revealed to members including central invoicing, and a new scheme to offer members better pricing on their utilities and other business contracts.
Unitas managing director John Kinney told delegates: “We are committed to driving growth for our members. This is not about simply adding more members, it will be through being better at what we do. Our strategic focus will be on driving a value offer, providing additional support to members through enhanced procurement, and optimising our respective supply chains, all underpinned by digitalising the operation to make it easier for our members and suppliers to work together better.”
Read more: Unitas identifies market trends for key categories
It was also announced that Unitas is to phase out its Lifestyle own label and replaced by a new value Local Living brand from next month, nearly doubling the existing range.
90 products from the existing range, which includes core convenience staples such as sauces, toilet roll, cooking oil, tinned beans, soft drinks and household, will be replaced across several stages. Sixty new lines will also be added, although these are still to be revealed.
Kinney told our sister title RN that, while there will be straight swaps, some products will not be replaced. These are to be confirmed. “The changes aren’t going to happen overnight, and we’ll have to approach it through phases. The brand itself isn’t tired, but we did get feedback that the Lifestyle brand would be advertising branding from another symbol group.
“We wanted to make a significant step change that would be received positively by wholesalers, retailers, and customers. The Lifestyle brand needed a bit of a shakeup.”
