John Wood
A direct to store van trial by Walkers in the south of England has helped to grow the snack market by 9%, according to Walkers Snacks' president Martin Glenn.
Walkers Local was set up a year ago, long before Walkers obtained the Snacks Services national van fleet from Golden Wonder (The Grocer, June 15), and consists of 25 vans working out of Booker depots in the south of England and Batleys' depot in Portsmouth.
The vans draw stocks from the cash and carries and deliver to independent retailers, and also provide advice and racking to help retailers merchandise the snacks category more effectively. Glenn said: "The Local test market retailers say they love it and they sell more."
He added the van sales staff did not encourage retailers to solely stock Walkers. "The other big sellers have to go on there too."
Glenn said the cash and carries the products were sourced from were also "happy with the arrangement", though he sought to reassure other wholesalers worried that the system might be used as the blueprint for a national distribution system using the newly acquired Snack Services van fleet. He accepted it was a reasonable concern, especially given that Walkers multinational parent Pepsico runs distribution direct to outlets in the rest of the world. But he said: "We do not have any plans to bypass wholesale/cash and carry."
{{NEWS }}
A direct to store van trial by Walkers in the south of England has helped to grow the snack market by 9%, according to Walkers Snacks' president Martin Glenn.
Walkers Local was set up a year ago, long before Walkers obtained the Snacks Services national van fleet from Golden Wonder (The Grocer, June 15), and consists of 25 vans working out of Booker depots in the south of England and Batleys' depot in Portsmouth.
The vans draw stocks from the cash and carries and deliver to independent retailers, and also provide advice and racking to help retailers merchandise the snacks category more effectively. Glenn said: "The Local test market retailers say they love it and they sell more."
He added the van sales staff did not encourage retailers to solely stock Walkers. "The other big sellers have to go on there too."
Glenn said the cash and carries the products were sourced from were also "happy with the arrangement", though he sought to reassure other wholesalers worried that the system might be used as the blueprint for a national distribution system using the newly acquired Snack Services van fleet. He accepted it was a reasonable concern, especially given that Walkers multinational parent Pepsico runs distribution direct to outlets in the rest of the world. But he said: "We do not have any plans to bypass wholesale/cash and carry."
{{NEWS }}
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