Worldwide Business Information and Market Reports

Telephone +44 1404 891528 Fax +44 1404 891717 Email reportfinder @ tiscali.co.uk

ISBN 1-85765-881-7

WANT TO BUY THIS? Just one of a HUGE range of titles from publishers such as Aktrin, AMA Research, eMarketer, Key Note, MAPS, MBD, MSI and The Prospect Shop that you can BUY RIGHT NOW online from us. To buy or to browse further, use either of the Back To buttons below to activate our catalogue. If you would like to buy this title, you will find it in alphabetic order in the Index using the first Back To button. If you need further information, please contact us using the details at the top of this page. Please tell your colleagues if you find our site useful!

Executive Summary

Table of Contents

Back to Retailing & Wholesaling Index and Shopping Cart

Back To REPORTFINDER home page and Search Engine

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Cash and carry represents the largest sector in the UK grocery wholesaling market, with sales valued at £9.51bn in 1997. The sector can be segmented by type of operation into: multiple depot operators, buying groups and independents. Multiple depot operators account for the largest share, with 54 percent, led by the major players, e.g. Booker, Makro and Batleys. Buying groups, comprising consortiums of wholesalers and retailers, have accounted for an increasing share of the market in recent years, taking around 44 percent in 1997. Independents are mainly unaffiliated, solo depot operators, many of which are active in the delivered trade.

The past few years have seen a dramatic concentration of the cash and carry trade, with increase in corporate activity, especially among the multiple depot companies. Booker's acquisition of Nurdin and Peacock in November 1996, created the largest cash and carry group in the UK. Recently, Makro, the Dutch-owned wholesaling group, was also taken over by the German group, Metro, for £1.7bn.

Overcapacity in the cash and carry trade, together with intense price competition, has led to many operators moving into new markets, e.g. catering or food service, or adopting a policy of range expansion by widening their product range, e.g. into pet foods. Many have also expanded their delivery service to servicing the independent retailers. On the operational side, increased investment in centralised distribution systems and information technology (IT), has enabled companies to operate more effectively, efficiently and economically.

The future looks less optimistic for the cash and carry trade, with the continued growth of the delivered sector, while increasing dominance of the major grocery multiples, together with the impending economic slowdown, suggest that the cash and carry operators will continue to operate in a difficult and extremely competitive marketplace. Key Note forecasts that the cash and carry sector will grow on average by 2.6 percent year-on-year from 1998 to £10.7bn in the year 2002.

Back to Top

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Market Definition

INTRODUCTION

MARKET POSITION

MARKET SECTORS

MARKET TRENDS

Table 1: The UK Grocery Wholesaling Market by Type of Operators (£m and percent), 1996 and 1997

Table 2: The UK Cash and Carry Market by Type of Operator ( percent of total sales), 1997

Table 3: Index of Consumer Expenditure and Grocery Wholesaling Turnover (index 1992=100), 1992-1997

Table 4: The UK Grocery Wholesaling Market and Penetration by Delivered Trade (£m and percent), 1990-1997

Market Size

THE TOTAL MARKET

NUMBER OF DEPOTS

AVERAGE DEPOT SIZE

PRODUCT MIX

Table 5: The UK Cash and Carry Market at Current Prices (£m and index 1992=100), 1992-1997

Table 6: Number and Average Sales of Cash and Carry Depots (£m and number), 1990-1997

Table 7: Average Depot Size of Cash and Carry Operators (square feet), 1996

Table 8: Grocery Cash and Carry Product Mix ( percent), 1996

Industry Background

RECENT HISTORY

INDUSTRY CONCENTRATION

TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

Table 9: Non-Specialist Wholesalers of Food, Beverages and Tobacco by Turnover (number and percent), 1997

Competitor Analysis

THE MARKETPLACE

MARKET LEADERS

ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION

Table 10: Number of Depots of the Leading Cash and Carry Groups, 1997

Table 11: Selected Own-Label and Exclusive Label Brands of Leading Cash and Carry Distribution, 1997

Table 12: Turnover of Selected Leading Cash and Carry Companies (£m), 1997/1998

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Buying Behaviour

GENERAL TRENDS

GROCERY SALES

INSTITUTE OF GROCERY DISTRIBUTION WHOLESALING SURVEY

THE CATERING SECTOR

Table 13: Cash and Carry Customer Profile ( percent), 1990-1997

Table 14: UK Grocery Trade by Store Format by Value ( percent), 1990-1997

Table 15: Consumer Expenditure on Food, Alcohol and Tobacco at Current Prices (£m), 1992-1997

Table 16: Consumer Expenditure on Catering at Current Prices (£m and index 1992=100), 1992-1997

Outside Suppliers to the Industry

FOOD, DRINK AND TOBACCO

DISTRIBUTION/LOGISTICS

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS

Current Issues

NEW OPENINGS

PACKAGING WASTE LEGISLATION

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

DUTY FRAUD

Forecasts

FORECASTS 1998 TO 2002

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTS

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

OVERSEAS EXPANSION

CONCLUSIONS

Table 17: Forecast UK Cash and Carry Market at Current Prices (£m), 1998-2002

Company Profiles

INTRODUCTION

DEFINITIONS

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Sources

ASSOCIATIONS

PERIODICALS

DIRECTORIES

GENERAL SOURCES

HBI UK INFORMATION SOURCES

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

OTHER SOURCES

Text © 1998 Key Note

Back to Top

Back To REPORTFINDER HOME PAGE

Ariadne - working together with our customers to enhance productivity and increase knowledge

© 2000 www.the-list.co.uk Ariadne

Last updated by Jacob van Eldik 22th February 2000