Distribution booming
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• Despite the downturn in the economy, contract distribution is growing by 47% a year, according to marketing company Market Location, and that boom is likely to continue, says special projects director Roger Musgrave.
ML's Transport Users survey, carried out during the first half of 1989, showed more than 34% of the 80,000-plus companies on its database now use contract distribution. The survey covered companies in the chemicals, engineering, food and tobacco, textiles and clothing and wholesaling sectors.
An earlier survey, between October and December last year, revealed a penetration of only 23%. "While the results are not strictly comparable because a different sample group was selected this time, the figures confirm our impression that this market sector is very buoyant and experiencing rapid growth during 1989," says Musgrave. He believes the market has not yet been fully exploited and that growth will continue, albeit at a slower rate.
The survey also looked at the use of parcel services in the mechanical engineering, financial, professional and business service sectors: "Usage has remained fairly static over the past few years at 60% of locations interviewed," says Musgrave.
Market Location investigated the breakdown between sameday and overnight services, which showed that 45% of the engineering locations contacted used same-day, while 48% used overnight. In the financial, professional and business services sectors, usage of sameday was higher at 52%, with overnight down to 40%. "It should be noted that many, if not all firms, use both types of service at some time, depending on actual requirements," says Musgrave.
Retail sales growth is subdued and well down on this time last year, says Nigel Whittaker, chairman of the Confederation of British Industry's Distributive Trades Survey Panel.