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ALL CARRY
company recently tightening up its terms and
conditions to reign in its credit terms.
"Any new customers are oish from now on, 1
think actuaJly customers are happier with that
becaiLse they Und they have no dcht as such
starting out. That suits us and it suits them," she
said.
" T ' T T ' T i t h the advent of central distribution At Giltnartins in Claremorris, Co Mayo. 40% However, managing director ot BW<J s
\ 1Í / and the overall decline in tiie walk-in of husine.s.s is still attributed to waik-in trade. wholesale division, John Moane, argues that
T V trade, the concept ot the cash and and this h;)s picked up recently, accortling to increased walk-in trade doesn't neccssarÜy equate-
carr)' has changed hugely in recent years. manager Mar)' Brennan. to hard cash for the operator.
Consolidation has been the buzz-word in the "We closed down a cash and carry in Castlerea "There was a lot of talk a few years ago about
sector, with significant numbers of closures in and we would bave taiten some of their waik-in dying completely, and that dJdn t
2008 and 2009, and rumours of more to come. customers. I sup|.x)se they want to familiarise materialise. Yes, our proportion of delivered
But with talk in the trade about the rccession- them.selves with where their stock is coming business was increasing steadily but for the last
Kielled resurgence in walk-in business, are we from or what we have in stock. Also, it is tew years but its probably stabilised. I don't
now seeing the rebirth of cash and carry? With important for them to walk-in for the simple think it's right to assume that just because
credit increasingly difficuit to obtain, has tbe fact that we would have more offers {here) if somebody comes in that they necessarily have
return of cash-based trading brought some they walked into tbe cash and carry as opposed the cash. You can have the carry without the
retailers hack to the old way of doing business? to taking the hrochure. In the last two years, cash - cash and credit," said Moane.
And. for the independent cash and carry (walk-in) was a dying trade. Bur in the last six Whiie James Fegan of Fegan's in Dublin 7
operators in particular, ha.s the boom in the grey montbs it has picked up again," said Brennan. agrees tiiat more retailers are ciioosing to browse
market allowed them to become more The trend of bulk buying is gone, according rhe floor themselves in search of special ofïers, he
competitive in the way they source and sell to Brennan, and the lack of cash is responsible believes that this trend is nowhere near its peak.
goods? for its disappearance. This poses the biggest "Its not really going to happen until die new
suppliers have looked very tavotirably on the so weVe gone off and done our own thing, " he said Richard Lomhard of Clonlara Wholesale in
trading circumstances that we face here. They see said. Co Clare.
that we are being proactive in trying to compete John Dugdale agrees: "We have had to import From Musgrave's perspective. Stafford said
and they want to work with us." some product Irom the UK and Northern that tougher negotiation.s with suppliers bad
Itidecd, while many of the operators that Ireland. The Irish arms ot some ot these resulted in better deals being ohtainetl for
Chakotit spoke to .said that most Irish suppliers companies have been very slow to react and very customers, with pricing structures also being
had taken steps to hring prices down, grey slow to change their pricing policy. It's ditficult reviewed.
sourcing remains a contentious issue, and one to understand how a product that's the exact "In addition, we have locused on growing out
which divides many cash and carry managers. same here as 30 miles up die road can he appeal to new trade sectors, pariicularly the
"We're staying away from the grey market," 25/30% cheaper. I think the Irish distributors SME sector. This deveiopment bas been
said O'Suiiivan of Hallisseys. have got to take it on and reduce some of tbeir supponed by an aggressive marketing campaign.
"We're telling our suppliers that we've been prices. Some ot rhem have, hut some of them which has proved to be very successful, leading
approached to huy a certain prr)diict at a certain haven't and tberes still a ditFcrential," he said. to a 20% increase in new SME customer
price, and they're discounting our deliveries rhat James Fegan believes that Imports from registrations," said Stafford.
way. As much as possible, we're not importing abroad account tor 20% ot his purchasing. Aithough tbere is an undoiihu'dly ditlliuli
any stock in Hallisseys. We'd like to keep it in However, grey market huying isn't altogether year ahead, there is still room for optimism.
(he Republic, but it's getting more and more new to his business. While some of the businesses may emerge from
difficult as b i ^ e r casb and carries are importing, "I would have been quite active on that side this recession quite different to how they first
even (from) ourside the North." of things priot to any of rhis happening. What I began, survival is taken as a given.
Brennan of (¡ilmartins also prefers to stay bave noticed is tbat, wbilc other people may "I'd say for the first six months it will be a
loyal to the Irish suppliers. "At the moment were bave been a bit lazy about doing it, everyone has question of those tbat are borderline cases, it'll
sticking with otir normal suppliers. We would be started liKiking outside the UK and Irisb circle, be sink or s-wim untorttmately for tiiem. I'm
hoping that most of our customers would stay even fiirthcr afield," be said. optimistic tor otir own busincs.s. We're long
with tis so in return we would be hoping it's Indeed, wbile BWG'sJohn Moanc established - we've been around since 1929."
Irish jobs we're saving by staying with Irisb acknowledges that it has been a tough year for said David Murphy, of H Murphy in Co
suppliers," she said. the group's casb and carries, he believes that the Wexford.
However, as wholesalers continue to be strength oí the euro bas worked to BWG's "I wouldn't see things improving, even in
.squeezed hy cross border shopping, for many favour in a number of areas. 2012, in my own mind - certainly not even
there is little choice but to look outside of the "1 think (thf grey marker) is very much a close to where we were. Faking wbere we were
Republic tor cheaper imports. feature of the market this year. Some of tbe out of the quesrion, 2010 and 201 I are going to
Sarah Hgan of Sheehans cash and carry in supplier base have been very quick to react and be very tough years. I see everybody re-
Wexford believes that, while prices have come in tairness have reacted in a very positive way, evaluating and re-engineering their biLsinesses to
down, they jtist can't offer the same value as the and some bave struggled. Tbe combination of different models in order to survive. It is ahout
North. falling demand, a very strong euro, deflation. survival ratber than anything else," said James
"At the moment, we're sticking to our usual and price pressure has opened up that Fegan,
suppliers, but I'd say come January now we'll be opportunity to a greater extent than it had in Although John Dugdale agrees that tbe tuturc
starting to import ourselves because we have to." prior years," said Moanc. looks tough, his sense ot bopc is also based on
Some operators are much more up front Although the picture may appear to be grim, the notion of keeping the bead down, working
about the way in which they have restructured there seems to be iiii underlying resilience hard, and coming through on the other side the
their buying operations to meet the nc-w climate. amongst the trade. After all, many ol these long- stronger tor it.
According to Mark Lutniey of Lumley's in cstahlisbed companies have battled through "It's a matter of just staying with ii - just
Offaiy, some 10-12% of yearly purchases now difficult times before. rolling up your sleeves and going back to bard
come from outside the Republic. "Every year there's something ditFerent. work; keeping overheads to a minimum;
"We've bad to go abroad. In some cases, Various things have happened and we coped hoping that one can ride out this recession and
suppliers aren't being responsive and we've just with them and 1 think we'll cope with this. This that there's some light at the end of the
got tired waiting tor tbem to come back to us is more serious though, but I'd say we'll cope," tunnel."