John Wood
Landmark Cash & Carry has revealed that it twice held talks with Nisa-Today's about forming a new wholesale group, but says Nisa-Today's chairman Dudley Ramsden blocked the move on both occasions.
Landmark managing director Mike McGee said he would not engage in a battle of words with Ramsden after his call last week for a united wholesale buying group, but said he wanted to put the record straight.
Ramsden said Landmark refused to consider combining with his organisation, but McGee refuted this: "In the last two years we have twice approached Nisa-Today's to form a wholesale group that would regenerate the sector.
"On both occasions it has been knocked back by Ramsden because he didn't see anything in it for Nisa-Today's. We were prepared to give up many areas to achieve this aim as we saw what the market dynamics required, but Ramsden didn't see it that way and, we understand, did not even consult his wholesale members."
McGee said he believed that a united wholesale operation would benefit its members. "We are proud to have nearly all the major independent wholesalers in the UK in the group, however we believe that all the major players are best served by working together for their mututal benefit."
But while Landmark agreed the wholesale sector was under pressure and would benefit from scale, he added: "Increasingly the world is about what you do with your volume and how you operate. It's not about the blunt instrument of ill-disciplined volume.
"Landmark is developing supplier relationships on the principle of working together for mutual reward, and we are developing technologies for the future to become even more efficient and effective."
McGee questioned whether wholesalers' interests were best served in a group which he saw as retailer dominated. "Perhaps it is time Today's wholesalers talked to Landmark," he said.
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