Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) held the latest in its series of Meet The Buyer days last month – this time, with its new retail partner, Wickes.
More than 60 prospective suppliers enjoyed upwards of 100 appointments with 14 members of the Wickes buying team at the event, which took place on September 2 at Watford Town Football Club.
Wickes head of commercial trading John Miller pronounced the day “very successful; we had three or four really easy wins just in the first few appointments and the event went on well from there. We’ll certainly be rolling out some of the products we’ve seen into our new concept stores.”
The brief from Wickes was to see new suppliers with products which would complement its trade and keen DIYer-focused core ranges, including both branded and potential own- brand product. All the companies attending were allocated a 20 minute appointment with their respective buyers and representatives from Wickes’ QA team participated in the meetings.
BHETA sector director for home enhancement Will Jones said, “This event was really productive for all parties. There were some great stories in terms of Wickes’ key categories, but I’m also really pleased with the number of opportunities for suppliers in the bathroom, cleaning and storage sectors. I’m very hopeful that after such a positive result, this event will become another regular feature of our retail engagement programme.”
