or served geographical niches . Today , most of those have consolidated into dominant regional chains or larger combined-buyingoffices . This consolidation in retail land was mirrored by a similar trend in manufacturing . Over the past decades , the wholesalers and distributors ‘ in the middle ’ got squeezed , unless they offered some measurable value-add in the channel of distribution . Fetim needed not just to adjust , but fundamentally change its proposition and
focus on this value-add . Due to this consolidation trend and the fast upcoming internet changed the role of traditional wholesalers ; it had fundamentally changed .”
This trend as well as a growing internationalisation of the markets where Fetim was trading forced the teams to do some serious soul searching and ask itself some tough questions : “ What constitutes our value add - why do we exist ? We had to find out how we could still operate successfully in our channel of distribution .” said Beerkens .
In addition to the above , the rise of ‘ disrupters ’ forced us to offer a point of difference to our customers . The growth of internet and ecommerce in home improvement markets , offered more choice of product and visibility of prices . Fetim recognised that these trends created as many opportunities as threats for larger , older corporations like Fetim , whose logistical systems , based on decades of experience ,
184 December 2021