Benefits and Services
Legislative
Lobbying on industry issues nationally is handled by our National
affiliate the American Wholesale Marketers Association . Our
individual member states lobby on the state level. The role of the
Southern in the legislative arena is one of support and political
education. Through our faxed legislative updates to members we keep
them informed of late-breaking legislative information from
throughout the region. The Southern assists states in organizing grassroots
efforts on behalf of the convenience products distribution industry.
- Encrypted Tax Stamping - Prompted by the
manufacturers of encrypted or "digital" tax stamping equipment,
various state legislatures around the country are dealing with the
issue of changing the manner in which tax stamps are applied to
cigarettes. The Southern is on the leading edge of this issue and
has prepared a "white paper" outlining the major issues states
need to consider. A copy of the white paper may be found
here.
- Click Here
to be taken to a website which is a tremendous resource for
stakeholders to use in understanding and fighting proposed
tobacco tax increases.
Education and Training
SAWD offers top-notch seminars and educational events throughout the
year. Centering around the distribution of convenience products,
these seminars are geared with the distribution channel in mind.
Most seminars are inexpensively priced and some are free!
Benchmarking
In some cases we are the direct provider of education and training,
in some cases we serve as a "signpost" to point members to materials
designed and/or offered by others to help increase profitability,
reduce exposure to risk, and increase opportunities for professional
and personal development.
At the 2008 NACS Show, industry expert Kit Dietz, with Dietz
Consulting along with members of AWMA's Warehouse Delivered Snack
Committee made an outstanding presentation entitled "How to Outpace
the Industry in Snack Sales and Profit Growth".
In
Dietz's words: "Achieving significant sales and margin growth in
the snacks category requires an objective category management
focus. I encourage retailers to do their own assessment and
believe that they will come to the same conclusions based on their
own data, and that conclusion is WD Snacks have better brand
strengths & significantly higher margins than DSD, in every snack
segment beyond chips. They deserve high visibility secondary
placements in the store.
The
WD Snacks MVE is the first step. Multiple studies confirm that
total retail snack sales can grow by 19% and gross margin
dollars by 22%.
Distributors need to work with their retail customers to conduct
a category assessment, ultimately eliminating non-value
adding product duplications, at lower margins. If
distributors embrace this process they have a lot to gain.
Brand transferability to higher margin brands with better
consumer recognition leads to more products on the distributors
truck. And in this business we all know that incremental sales
in an existing account are your most profitable new sales."
The profitability of those who have
been participating in this effort has been impressive. For a look at
the presentation itself,
Click Here.
Posted with permission of:
Insights4Strategy4Modeling4Execution4Results
Dietz Consulting LLC
4720 Surfside Drive | Huron, OH 44839 |
567 623.6200
Office
440.653.3156 Mobile
216.456.8909 Fax
Annual Meeting Magazine
SAWD's Annual Meeting Magazine is published once a year and is
distributed to all wholesale distributors in the region. The
magazine features information about the annual meeting, as well as
informative articles by and about members. For advertising
information, please fill out the appropriate form (PDF file):
Invitation to Advertise -
Distributors & Brokers
Invitation to Advertise - Manufacturer
Click Here for Ad Specifications
E-Letter
"Smoke Signals" is a periodic electronic newsletter focusing on
legislative and regulatory issues in the Southern's region. The
purpose of the publication is to assist members in their legislative
efforts by making them aware of issues being faced by neighboring
states. While the focus of the publication will be regional;
national issues which have significant impact will be included as
well. |
