Parfetts is upping its minimum order spend to £1,500 per delivery for its symbol retailers, The Grocer can reveal.
In an announcement sent to retailers, the wholesaler said: “As fuel prices rise, we need to ensure our delivery service is running as efficiently as possible.
“From orders placed on Sunday 10 July, we will be increasing the minimum order level to £1,500, excluding cigarettes. This will help us ensure our vehicles are running at full capacity, maximising efficiencies.
“This is the lowest in our industry and coupled with free deliveries, represents the best value for our customers.”
The Grocer understands the current minimum order spend is £1,000.
The wholesaler has also asked retailers to “commit to regular order patterns”.
It said: “If we can fix your delivery windows, we can be more efficient in our route planning. It should also help improve the service and allow us to provide delivery slots, helping you better manage at store level.”
It has also suggested retailers switch to pay by direct debit or bank transfer to prevent Parfetts being hit by increasing card payment processing fees.
“It means we can invest that money directly back into price and promotions, helping to drive your margins up. We also feel it provides a better service to our customers, allowing for a credit facility to help you manage your cash and purchases.”
Parfetts said these three requests formed part of a wider strategy to protect retailers’ margins.
“We are all being hit by rising inflation with prices across the supply chain continuing to increase. Our cost to service our delivered customers has seen the biggest impact, with rising fuel prices and the card processing surcharge we pay on all card payments increasing significantly.
“We are committed to not passing these costs on to our customers and are focused on improving efficiencies across our delivered model.”
The annoucement went on to say: “Hopefully with the transparency of this email you can see we are working hard to protect your margins and importantly the initiatives we are introducing don’t cost you a penny.”
Parfetts joint MD Guy Swindell said: ”It’s been done to help better improve logistics and means we can keep the service free and protect our customers margins.”
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