Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) held a Meet The Buyer day with Wilko on November 13, and welcomed 55 suppliers for over 100 appointments with the home and hardware chain’s buying team.
Categories represented included home living, kitchen and dining, decorating and DIY, storage, garden and outdoor, cleaning and household, seasonal and craft.
The event, which took place at West Retford Hall in Nottinghamshire, focused on potential suppliers who could offer a wide variety of products as well as drop ship capabilities in the garden sector.
Participating suppliers were allocated a 20-minute appointment time to present credentials and cover the features and benefits of the products they were offering, including cost price proposals.
Commenting on the day, BHETA’s chief operating officer Will Jones, said: “The event was a great success, with the Wilko team kept busy all day. We also had very good feedback from both BHETA members and non-members who reported on some very positive meetings.”
Wilko buyer Neil Fairhurst said: “This was a very productive format from our point of view, enabling us to engage with a large quantity of potential suppliers in a short space of time.”
Wilko operates more than 400 stores in the UK, which are mostly High Street based, and positions itself as ‘providing simple solutions to help families get their day to day lives sorted as quickly, easily and affordably as possible’.
More details of BHETA’s events programme, including other retailer networking opportunities can be found at www.bheta.co.uk
