Bestway partners with suppliers to help retailers’ cash-in on Brighton Pride

The Bestway Wholesale depot in Brighton partnered with big suppliers last week to help retailers prepare for Brighton Pride which takes place in Brighton City Centre this weekend. Big name brands took part in the trade day event at the Bestway depot on Hollingbury Trading Estate including Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, Lucozade, Red Bull and Kopparberg.

The trade day is an annual event targeted at independent and Xtra Local customers [although best-one customers are welcome to join too], and is overseen by Bestway Brighton’s General Manager, Stuart Shaw. Stuart says: “The Bestway Brighton Pride trade day is a great opportunity for team members to get dressed up and have fun working with suppliers, whilst supporting our local retailers. A lot of local retailers are located on the Pride Parade route and they can all cash in on the number of people who will visit the city over the weekend.

“We spent about six weeks planning the trade event, drumming up the interest of suppliers and retailers with flyers, emails and face-to-face contact - and thinking of ways to create theatre in depot on the day. With 40% more customers through the door than on a usual Wednesday, the depot team worked really hard along with our local best-one and Bestway Vans Direct teams to ensure that all customer needs were met.”

The Bestway Pride trade day consisted of stand-out deals and free sample giveaways on the products which sell best in independent stores during the Pride Festival including soft drinks, licensed, tobacco and vape. A curry lunch was also served up for free and an ice-cream van gave out ice-creams on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year. The trade day happens about 10 days before Pride Festival every year, to give retailers ample opportunity to prepare and to ensure the depot has time to deliver all the products customers have picked.

Stuart adds: “Most customers know about and look forward to our event and come into the depot looking for top selling products for Pride – it’s bigger than Christmas down here. Red Bull attended with their Wings girls, Monster Energy had their energy trunk and Relentless their events van. Brothers Cider and JUUL also supported amongst others, and we had our very own DJ inside the depot.

“We had a couple of completely new retailers visit us this year too and the depot team was able to spend time with them selecting the products which will help them drive sales throughout the Brighton Pride weekend – particularly beers, ciders and pre-mixed spirits.”

Not only were customer numbers up by 40%, sales also increased 65% compared to a usual Wednesday for the depot. All-in-all a successful day with customers leaving stocked-up, well fed and feeling valued by Bestway in the lead-up to Pride.