Musgrave NI pledges to become the ‘Amazon of wholesale’

Musgrave NI pledges to become the ‘Amazon of wholesale’

Musgrave NI says it aims to become the ‘Amazon of wholesale’, transforming itself into a one-stop shop for wholesale customers across Northern Ireland.

And it plans to “disrupt the wholesale sector” with the help of a new digital platform which is expected to launch in Northern Ireland towards the end of next year.

Managing director Trevor Magill told IF&CR that the digital platform will trial in the Republic before it is introduced here in late 2022.

“One of our key mantras is about disrupting wholesale. We want to become the Amazon of wholesale – and become a one stop shop for wholesale customers in Northern Ireland to get the goods they want when they want them, and at the price they want to pay for them,” Mr Magill promised.

The company has already embraced the possibilities of the newest tech and the opportunities of the digital economy.

Having just recently launched the Frank and Honest Coffee loyalty app to replace the paper card, Mr Magill said it’s getting good traction very quickly.

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of customers are using the self-scan option in its Supervalu and Centra stores.

Musgrave NI is also trialling a collaboration with Just Eat in four Centra stores in Belfast, Lisburn and Carryduff in which customers can purchase coffee, food to go and groceries which can be delivered by Just Eat.

The company was also one of the first in Northern Ireland to embrace the remote working trend, meaning it was well positioned to act quickly when the Covid -19 pandemic arrived in March 2020, Mr Magill said.

“We were probably one of the first businesses in Ireland to make the decision to put a working from home policy in place. In March 2020, we quickly moved and within 24 hours staff were working from home – we were lucky that we had the technology to allow us to do that,” he said.