29 March 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) this week launched a procurement service for its members.
The association will work with outsourced procurement provider Co-Save, which buys products and services for members of the British Retail Consortium and Associated Independent Stores.
The WSTA said Co-Save would use this purchasing power to do deals on energy, telecoms, insurance, waste collection, carrier bags, office supplies and other products and services.
WSTA Procurement Services will charge 15 per cent of the annual savings it helps produce. It said most open market consultancies charge 50 per cent.
The UK trade group has more than 200 members including drinks producers, importers, brand owners and retailers. Among them are Thresher Group, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Diageo. This new service is immediately available to them.
Jeremy Beadles, WSTA chief executive, told
www.supplymanagement.com that Co-Save has a proven track record.
"We can't out-procure Tesco... but a lot of businesses don't understand procurement and don't have in-house experts to do it, so they sign up to whatever they're offered instead of testing the market place. Co-Save has expertise in working with membership organisations."
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