Online Ordering Fuelling Sector Growth

Food and Drink is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, it has a turnover of £78.7bn contributing £20bn in Gross Value Added to the UK economy. Many questioned what made this sector grow throughout the economic downturn with the government focusing on improving this growth by 20% by 2020. To add some perspective to these statistics, this sector is bigger than automotive and aerospace combined.

This sector has the same intricacies as any other. The wide range of products are constantly changing, the availability from the suppliers varies by the minute alongside the complex pricing structures. With customer specific delivery routes this means outlet managers need to order by a certain cut off time when they actually have no time in their trading day. It would be conceivable to think that due to the overworked nature of food and drink managers, order volumes take a hit but actually the industry is booming and this is partly due to availability and speed of re-order 24-7, 365 days of the year. There is not one journey you can do on the motorway without noticing the Kuehne & Nagel and DHL Trade Team trucks completing the final stage of their delivery.

The sector’s year on year growth comes of no surprise to TrueCommerce Netalogue Managing Director of Ecommerce Andrew Robathan who has worked closely with many of the industry leaders over the last year delivering the very best online ordering platform. “The most exciting aspect of working within the drinks industry is that they understand the need for online ordering and they know the importance of delivering the goods when the customer needs them despite the complex business processes. Where these operators are different is that they plan for 2020 and not what they should be doing today. They have the courage and determination to be at the top of their game and it is this ambition and vision that is paying dividends.”

Well known companies such as Matthew Clark, EI Group, Marstons and Greene King all have very different online strategies with the TrueCommerce Netalogue B2B platform at the core. EI Group boast that customers now have everything they need at their fingertips whilst Matthew Clark have halved customers order times online appreciating that 36% of its customers order outside normal office hours. Mike Fisher, Head of Digital and E Commerce stated, ‘’TrueCommerce Netalogue was chosen as our e-commerce partner due to their experience in the industry coupled with their flexibility in delivering to our tight timescales. The working partnership has been a positive example of how TrueCommerce Netalogue engage with customers from the outset to share with long term strategic goals and ensure there is a viable digital roadmap. I look forward to delivering the next phase of our digital strategy with TrueCommerce Netalogue and growing into the functionality that is available.’’

Contact us with your requirements and let us demonstrate the difference a true B2B solution can make to your business. You can also find further information on how to deliver your digital strategy and increase your growth here.