United Wholesale Scotland is to launch a number of schemes that will help improve shop utility costs for retailers, while boosting the support and range at its depots. 

The wholesaler has three depots in Glasgow and Grangemouth, which have all undergone transformations into what the company describes as “warehouses of the future”. 

Launched in 2019, the warehouses are fitted with giant digital screens that notify retailers of the latest promotions from suppliers. 

Commenting on upcoming developments, United Wholesale Scotland managing director Chris Gallacher told Better Retailing: “The cash and carry certainly isn’t dead – we wanted to create a better shopping environment for retailers. 

“One of our next steps next year is to use CCTV to gauge where certain hotspots are in our depots and see where customers are shopping the most. We can determine whether we have the right resources at the right time and the right place. 

“We can identify where we need the staff the most and whether we have the space for the right products. 

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“We’re also adding facial recognition onto the rack ends at the warehouses. They don’t capture personal details such as address or phone number, but rather the time a retailer spends looking at products, their age and their reaction to a certain product. 

“If we find out a certain product isn’t doing well, we can send a coupon to a customer through the United Connect smartphone app to offer them money off a case.” 

Gallacher added the company has also added electronic shelf-edge labels at its depots, giving retailers live updates on availability levels of stock. “There’s a lot of education for retailers at the point of purchase,” he said. 

Next year, United Wholesale will also launch a number of services to help its Day-Today symbol group retailers get the best prices on utility bills and other non-food services. 

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Describing the support, Gallacher said: “We’re launching a dashboard in January which will help retailers get the best pricing on card services, electricity and gas. 

“We’re also working with a company who will go to stores and look at a retailer’s energy consumption. They will examine where the retailer is being the least energy efficient and give them advice on how to improve that. 

“This will take the form of seven or eight tips that they can implement, for example. 

“We truly believe this will be a game changer. As a business, we want to genuinely look at the overall costs for retailers. It’s not just about seasonal and gross profit. 

“We want to look at how we can increase the total net profit for a retailer.”