Where does the company stand in the global market now?
Nila Patel: Norbert Dentressangle started in distribution in 1979 and is now a £3.6m turnover company with 33,000 employees. It has tripled in size in the past five years.
What has been the biggest change for the company?
Patel: The biggest change in the company has been the move to multi-channel, with people ordering sometimes just a single item online.
What is the next step for ND?
Patel: Everyone thinks of us as a company whose core business is trucks and warehouses, but we also do merchandising, shrink-wrapping, labelling and bar-coding, plus cross-docking. Our ambition is to be a complete end-to-end business; see a project right through from start to finish and make life easier for our customers.
In which geographic sectors is ND present?
Patel: Norbert Dentressangle is a family owned firm that’s still a 68% shareholder in the company. Recently, we have expanded into Europe, and last year bought Schneider Freight Forwarding in the US. We also bought APC, giving us a footing in China, Beijing and Hong Kong.
What choice does a beverage manufacturer have when it comes to delivery methods?
Patel: We cover pick, pack and despatch, offering delivery by post, parcel, pallet or full trailer.
So, ecommerce is now a mainstay of the business. What are the main avenues of enquiry?
Patel: Our internet business has grown considerably and is succeeding because customers enjoy the instant reaction. We’re striving to make this more personal by informing people when a delivery has been despatched, for instance.
Store delivery enquiries have also speeded up enormously, with cost savings for retailers who no longer need to keep stock in warehouses, but instead opt for JIT (Just in Time) delivery and OTIF (On Time In Full).
Many companies now have an IT interface that links with us, so as products are purchased from the store, a new order is automatically placed.
This needs careful monitoring at our end to ensure that the right item is picked, put onto the right pallet and the right vehicle, and delivered to the right address. There are many points at which this could go wrong, but we pride ourselves on getting it right.
Claire Phoenix is managing editor of Beverage Innovation magazine.
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