Wholesaler remains No.1 among UK groups
SCOTTISH wholesaler JW Filshill has scooped up two awards from The Advantage Group in recognition of its KeyStore fascia and route to market service.
The wholesale firm has ranked No.1 among UK wholesalers and convenience symbol groups for the 16th year in a row with the 2026 #1 Wholesale Fascia trophy as voted on by an independent survey of key UK suppliers.
Alongside the success for the KeyStore symbol, Filshill was also awarded the No.1 in Route To Market by The Advantage Group.
Some 400 suppliers took part in the voting process with The Advantage Group and evaluated the performance of Filshill’s operations alongside its peer group of UK wholesalers. This covered across several areas of the business ranging from category and business development and ease of doing business, to supply chain management and execution of promotional and marketing plans.
The surveys revealed that Filshill scored highly when it came to sustainability, trust, strategic alignment, capability and experience. Additionally, the Renfrewshire wholesaler was marked highly for its “fair and equitable” competency – with a clear improvement from last year’s findings across range, forecasting, demand planning and product innovation.
One supplier who commented on Filshill said: “JW Filshill are very relationship oriented. They will share data freely if we ask, and there is always someone contactable, creating a very open and friendly environment.
“They plan two to three months ahead, and if there are any gaps in plans, the buying team will flag them to us. They then share evidence of what has been completed after the fact as well, so it feels like it is driving value on both sides of the relationship.”
Speaking on the continued success for the wholesaler, Chris Miller, chief commercial officer at JW Filshill, said: “At Filshill, our goal is to work in partnership with our suppliers and find innovative ways in which to collaborate with them – and the results of The Advantage Group’s surveys reaffirm that our strategy is the right one.
“Suppliers value the insight and data that we gather from our advanced supply chain technology and by sharing it we can be part of each other’s success story.
“Of course, we are aware that there is always room for improvement and that is exactly why the feedback from suppliers is so valuable. There is no room for complacency and the fact that Filshill is always available to have open and honest dialogue with suppliers is one of our key strengths – it enables us to find solutions and work together for mutual benefit.
“Working towards achieving mutual growth and profitability is very important to Filshill and strong relationships with our suppliers are always going to bring benefits to our customers.
“The results reaffirm our commitment to leveraging partnerships to provide promotions, pricing and range support to drive our retailers’ store performance, tapping into our ‘five reasons to join KeyStore’ campaign: delivery, social media support, KeyStore Community Fund, proven core range, and real business support.”
