What does the Landmarks & Today’s Merger mean for the industry?

Landmarks Wholesale and Today’s recently unanimously agreed to take a proposal to merge both groups to a wider voting process for approval by their members.

Both companies seem happy with the proposition, but many are left wondering what economic and regional implications this could have on the industry.

The objective of the proposed merger is to create a larger, more effective and efficient group, dedicated to supporting independent wholesalers. This move isn’t out of the ordinary at time when mergers and acquisitions throughout the UK and Ireland are at a peak. Stiff competition and economic uncertainties continue to encourage consolidation discussions in the market.

HIM released a shopper insight report and it showcased the fact that the new merged wholesaler can focus the efforts and provide a best in class service to customers who probably feel the pinch of competition, as well as changes in the legislation and economic landscape.

Darren Goldney, managing director of Today’s Group has stated, “We believe that this consolidation is narrowing the options for suppliers and potentially threatening the future of independent businesses as multiple chains expand into the wholesale channel.

This merger acts to ensure the sustainable and future success of our members, many of whom have a multi-generation legacy of service to independent businesses, be they convenience stores, catering outlets or many of the other businesses we serve.”

From an internal view, it would appear that everyone on the whole seems quite confident of the proposal. Both Today’s and Landmark wholesale customers are no different. The new merged wholesaler could build on this strong heritage and take this aspect event further for the customers. A proposition that industry practitioners should be keeping an eye on.

Source: HIM Wholesale Study 2018, Convenience Tracking programme (CTP) 2018.