At the supplier-distributor kick-off segment, the Richmond, VA-distributor group elaborated on its priorities for this year, noting specifically that it would develop go-to-market strategies that would involve new relationships between it, the membership and suppliers.
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Gary Butler, senior vice president of distributor development; Chip Spraggins, vice president of marketing; and Don Hughes, vice president of category management and procurement services, focused on using category management principles in defining this relationship.
The aim will be to drive more volume through Progressive Group Alliance's pipeline with fewer vendors. The group's intention, they said, would be to become as important as possible to its supplier base as well as membership.
Hughes explained that the group intends to use category management principles to bring the right kind of items at the right value from the vendors to the membership.
More than 220 distributor-companies from all of the group's seven identity brands, such as All Kitchens, BDA, Buonamici, Emerald Club, Pleezing, Pocahontas Foods USA and Pro-C, are in attendance along with some 250 supplier-members. The Emerald Club, an identity for broadliners, is the latest coalition within the Progressive Group family, according to Butler.
Since the last Business Summit, held has fall in Orlando, FL, 47 companies joined one of the brands, Progressive Group Alliance announced.
See the Friday, March 16, edition of ID Report for a follow-up story on Progressive Group Alliance.
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