Retailer stories are drawn from real patterns across our trade accounts, with details combined and anonymised so no single customer's trading data is identifiable.
A family-run group of three convenience stores in the Midlands came to us last year with a familiar picture: sales were holding up, but margin had slipped below 3 per cent and nobody could say exactly why.
What we found together
Their buying was spread across five suppliers plus emergency cash-and-carry runs. Each supplier had a minimum order, so each order was padded to hit it. Nobody had reviewed line-level margin in over a year, and roughly 9,000 pounds of stock across the three stores had not sold a unit in two months.
What changed
Months one and two: consolidated core FMCG buying to a single account. Fewer deliveries, one invoice run, and combined volume that qualified for better pricing than any of the five accounts had individually.
Month three: line-level margin review using their EPOS export. Delisted 64 lines, mostly slow general merchandise, and reallocated the space to functional drinks and pet essentials on our recommendation from comparable accounts.
Months four to six: cleared dead stock at cost, moved to 30-day terms once the trading history supported it, and set a quarterly review with their account manager as a standing fixture.
Where it landed
Six months in, blended margin was up by a little over four points on the affected ranges, cash previously tied up in dead stock was back in velocity lines, and deliveries had gone from eleven a week across the group to four. None of it required new customers, just tighter buying.
If that picture sounds familiar, the line-level review is the place to start. Any of our account managers will run one with you.