Total sales reached £460 million in 2018, accounting for organic like-for like sales growth of £30 million and purchasing through the group increased by 12% in 2018.
Coral Rose, MD of the Country Range Group, said: “2018 was another strong year as our members once again outperformed the market delivering impressive YOY sales growth of just under 10%. With record amounts spent on infrastructure, personnel and resources in 2017, our members and their customers are definitely seeing the returns and benefits, which bodes well for the future.”
“While new business and sales growth are obviously vital for our individual members, from a Group perspective our strategic goal is to optimise the level of purchasing throughout the Group. Our purchasing increased by a massive 12%, which is a huge achievement. Increased purchasing from suppliers provides greater scope for national promotional and marketing activity and ensures our members have an unassailable range of branded and own-brand products when it comes to price, quality and trends.”
“It’s this competitive pricing, exciting promotions, access to the Country Range brand and extensive marketing support, along with the personal, reliable and professional customer service that sets our members apart in the foodservice market and highlights the positives of being independent.”
It said that within the group, inward investment has ‘once again been central’ with increased spend on digital marketing, additional freezer space, vehicles and new test and demo kitchens.
It added that a ‘core’ reason for the strong group figures is the performance of the Country Range brand which accounts for over 750 product lines and is expanding.
Fourteen new product launches in 2018 helped the brand’s sales grow by 8% in 2018, taking the total sales value of the brand to the £100 million mark.