Sanitary Supply Wholesaling Association Changes Buying Group Involvement At Conference

Distributors know they don’t have to go it alone. Wholesalers and buying groups are two supply-chain partners that can help create more efficient, stronger businesses.

Now, thanks to recent changes in the Sanitary Supply Wholesaling Association’s (SSWA) annual Executive Conference, there is opportunity for wholesalers and buying groups to work even closer together.

The goal of the Waterville, Ohio-based SSWA is to develop wholesaling services that benefit jan/san distributors. To stay abreast of the distributor market, SSWA taps into industry buying groups. At past years’ conferences, only one buying group was invited to share trends, struggles and needs of its distributor members.

Each year showcased a different buying group and feedback from SSWA members and buying group attendees were always positive, says Donna Frendt, executive director of the Sanitary Supply Wholesaling Association. Based on these favorable reactions and a survey of SSWA members, the consensus was that if one buying group was good, more would be better. The board decided to change the format starting with the 2013 conference and allow executives from all buying groups to attend at the same time.

“The majority of SSWA members felt that more buying groups would be a good addition to the conference,” says Frendt. “The more contact we have with them the better; the more opportunities we have to get our message out there the better.”

For this year’s show in June, two buying groups will be attending. Frendt hopes that if this year’s conference proves successful, more buying groups will be inclined to attend future events.