Providing fresh produce that supports the hospitality, retail, and consumer sectors is an essential function of wholesale food suppliers, which is why it’s crucial for you to identify and prepare for the risks associated with your category.
What are some of the common risks in the food wholesale industry?
Since food wholesalers have limited hours in the day, it must be frustrating to know your risks, but not have time to mitigate them. Based on our research and experience in the industry, we have outlined your five major risks and how you might combat them quickly and cost-effectively.
Risk 1: Errors from manual order entry
Rather than articulating orders over lengthy voicemails, Whatsapp messages, or emails, which can lead to errors, organise all your order information online, including picking slips, invoices and payments.
Risk 2: Outdated product lists
Are you constantly updating product lists? Finding yourself digging through files to find old invoices? Instead of hard copy product lists and long excel files, set up an online product list where you can offer specials and updates real-time, as well as retrieve any invoice at any time.
Risk 3: Missing out on the ease of digital
Is your admin team drowning in a sea of paper? Do you handwrite invoices? Digitalising invoices will save you time as well as make your business appear professional.
Risk 4: Dealing with late payments
Don’t chase payments, chase new business. Make sure your business is paid on time by automating card payments from your customers.
Risk 5: Delivery run mismanagement
Whether it’s organising fruit and veg delivery runs, dropping wholesale seafood deliveries or ensuring delivery drivers are keeping track of delivery changes, deliveries take wholesalers hours out of their day. Get hours back in your day by organising your deliveries on one simple-to-use platform.
How can food wholesale mitigate these risks?
Digitalisation is the underlying theme in the solutions offered for the risks you may face. In your industry, technology has been shied away from, but with the evolving business landscape, it is an aspect of your business you should embrace. Infact, research from The Federation of Wholesale Food Distributors shows the interaction between suppliers and customers is changing with an ‘adoption of new, and major shifts in how customers want to interact and transact’.Â
