Landmark is working with 16 suppliers to develop a new vision for wholesaling, according to Ron Colley, the buying group's marketing development director. He told the FWD annual conference that suppliers and wholesalers had to pull together to arrest the decline of independent retailers. And he said that meant focusing on their needs ­ and the needs of their customers ­ rather than on just selling as many boxes as possible. Colley said historically wholesalers had been too focused on negotiating terms with suppliers and driving volume through their depots. But that had to change, he said: "We have to spend time driving product off our customers' shelves because that is where we all make money." Colley said both wholesalers and suppliers had to embrace the change required to achieve that vision. "If we say no to working together, we will start haemorrhaging money from the sector. Wholesaling will become a backwater. We need to be seen as a thriving sector that suppliers want to work with." New at the heart of Landmark's thinking is the idea that suppliers should pool resources and adopt a syndicated approach to work on outlet development. Colley said too much time and money was spent in the field by suppliers who were giving retailers advice that was often "well intentioned, but contradictory". Partly to address this problem ­ and some obvious competitive issues ­ the 16 Landmark suppliers are feeding their research into the consultants Glendinning which are acting as an independent facilitator for a trial now underway in the Midlands. The research will be used to develop category plans for the 20 stores involved in the trials ­ "to show how we can become better at providing what the consumer needs". And work will be done to ensure retailers sell on promotions to their customers. Colley said the initiative would be backed up by developments in e-technology. In particular Landmark will provide the retailers with web-enabled EPoS systems that will provide data on what is happening in the trial stores. {{NEWS }}