How boughey’s unique relationship with a sales agency shows logistics can be an indispensable part of the ‘marketing mix’.

Think of logistics and you think of a process with manufacturers and distributors at one end, retailers and consumers at the other… and in the middle, the trailers and warehouses that can handle the volumes that make it all possible. But as Boughey and Product Chain are demonstrating, there is another way.

Product Chain is a sales agency that specialises in bringing new, innovative brands to the mainstream consumer market.

By their very nature, such brands often have limited financial resources and limited access to the services that are essential for sustained success in the fast moving FMCG environment.

Product Chain’s solution? Instead of thinking bigger than your established competitors, think smarter.

Nowhere is that approach more apparent than in its choice of distribution provider for its client brands.

When initial monthly volumes may have amounted to 20 - 30 pallets, Boughey’s consolidated services helped brands such as Real Foods and, more recently, New Zealand Honey Specialities Ltd, establish a foothold in the competitive UK market.

In the case of NZ Honey, that foothold has turned into a presence in over 1,000 UK stores in under two years. And all against a backdrop of falling honey prices and the best efforts of the bee-killing varroa mite to decimate the industry worldwide.

‘Our relationship with Product Chain goes back some five years,’ comments Boughey MD Keith Forster.’ It works for us because our consolidated model is perfectly suited to smaller volume producers who couldn’t otherwise afford the facilities, schedules and drop frequency we offer. And it works for Product Chain because they can be confident their clients are receiving good customer service levels.

‘There’s no commercial relationship between us, just an arrangement that benefits everybody concerned. Product Chain customers deal direct with Boughey and enjoy all the cost advantages that come with it.’

Many of the products Boughey handle on behalf of Product Chain offer organic alternatives to mainstream brands. The manufacturers of those products expect that integrity to be maintained throughout the supply chain, and here Boughey’s organic warehousing and distribution status has been a more than significant factor in their continued relationship with Product Chain.

So as unusual as it may seem for a distribution company to be partnering a sales agency, you can be sure that whatever the next challenger brand Product Chain brings to market, it will be Boughey trailers delivering it to the stores.