Thursday 12th September 2019
Record numbers of retailers enter Bestway Wholesale’s Retail Development Awards
Over 150 retailers have entered Bestway Wholesale’s Retail Development Awards ahead of the prestigious private awards ceremony at Marriott Grosvenor Square, on 17th October 2019. Both best-one symbol group retailers and independent retailers have entered the awards, all of whom attended one of Bestway’s Retail Development Seminars earlier this year, gaining insight to grow their businesses.
The Retail Development Programme has been running for 18 years, providing insight and support to independent retailers from Bestway and leading supplier partners of the scheme. All retail customers of Bestway can attend a seminar in the Spring in either Scotland, the North or the South of England, to obtain knowledge by category and get a first look at new product developments and special promotions via the trade show on the second day of the event.
Retailers who attend the seminars then implement changes to their store with the support of suppliers and their Bestway Development Manager, and can enter the awards to win a cash prize.
Awards entry categories include ‘soft drinks retailer’, ‘beers and ciders retailer’, ‘pet food’ and ‘baby food’ retailers and ‘chilled retailer of the year’, plus seven other categories by product area. In addition, retailers can enter community retailer of the year; an independently judged award which recognises the retailer most at the heart of their community.
Except for ‘tobacco retailer of the year’, which is judged by Imperial Tobacco, the category awards are all judged by the best-one business development team headed up by Paul Adams, head of retail development and sales for best-one. The winning retailers will be selected based on their professionalism, implementation of the insights they learned at the seminars and sales figures which demonstrated improvements.
Adams comments: “A lot of effort has been put into these awards by a lot of retailers and we’ve had some really great entries. In selecting winners, I’ll be looking for people who have genuinely engaged with the RDA’s scheme by attending the seminars, listening to what was said and implementing the changes in their store. Choosing the finalists won’t be easy, as we have so many great stories to tell.”
18 category winners will be selected and in addition, the top four retailers will be crowned Scottish, Northern and Southern winner and overall National winner. The total prize fund is worth over £50,000.
The full list of winners will be communicated after the awards ceremony on 17th October 2019.
Next year’s Retail Development Seminar’s will be held in March and April 2020, in Scotland, the North and the South of England. More details will be communicated to retailers, who will be able to register online.