History of the business

The Consumer Packaged Goods business was created in August 2017 by merging Imperial Retail Logistics, Imperial Cold Logistics and Imperial Retail Solutions into an industry vertical. These three businesses focused on ambient and frozen warehousing and distribution and sales and merchandising respectively.

Imperial Retail Solutions was formed through the consolidation of four successful, synergistic companies: VMS, FMS, Mercor Solutions and Peak Instore.

Imperial Retail Logistics' origin stems from Tongaat Food Distributors (TFD) which was acquired by Imperial in 2006.  The acquisition of RTT's consumer health business in 2012, led to an integration into TFD along with Imperial Distribution.  In 2014 TFD was renamed as Imperial Retail Logistics.

Imperial acquired The Cold Chain in 2000 from Tiger Brands.  Historically, The Cold Chain provided warehousing, distribution, sales and merchandising. In 2013 the business was split so that the sales and merchandising was integrated into Imperial Retail Solutions.  In 2014 the Cold Chain was renamed Imperial Cold Logistics.

Service offering

Imperial recognises the importance to ensure our clients competitiveness and relevance in the market. This is particularly true of fast moving consumer goods. The formation of the Consumer Packaged Goods business consolidates our internal knowledge and experience of this demanding industry and its requirements and its opportunities. Our fully integrated, end to end supply chain solutions minimise the complexity and risks in our clients' supply chains and unlock opportunities for growth, cost savings and service enhancements. Through multiple route-to-market service offers, we build strategic partnerships with our clients to enable their business success.

Our diverse experience and expansive capabilities in the consumer packaged goods arena extend from the traditional value-added logistics services, through to supply chain management solutions and distribution management to route-to-market solutions encompassing brand activation, demand creation, consumer engagement, sales and merchandising.

Our solutions

Our inbound logistics capabilities encompass customs forwarding and clearing; logistics from port to container offloading and bond storage; and raw material and packaging inbound management. We offer dedicated and multi-principal warehousing options, with frozen, temperature controlled and ambient storage and distribution. Bulk and fine picking; batch control and expiry management; repacking, kitting, gifting, salvaging and debtors management also form part of our specialised capabilities. Our outbound logistics solutions include multi-temperature, bulk and multi-drop secondary distribution. We leverage advanced route planning, demand and supply planning technology to optimise our clients' distribution activities and deliver competitive advantages that include reduced costs, enhanced efficiency and visibility, and environmental benefits.

Our well established local expertise and experience enables us to competently configure consumer packaged goods clients' route to market strategies, and we understand that agility and flexibility are especially critical in the competitive FMCG market. We boast an expansive geographic footprint that we leverage to drive our clients' competitiveness. Our distribution network caters for all route to market channels, and our sales and merchandising capability is further enhanced through our specialised demand activation and channel development teams.

Our sales and operations planning processes are constantly evolving to meet our clients' needs. These are aligned with ordering, stock holding, replenishment, sales and distribution. We offer our client's exceptional visibility of sales through our sales teams on the ground, coupled with the effective use of hand held devices to capture data.

Key strengths

Working alongside our clients, we are adept at identifying the constantly shifting challenges, risks and opportunities in this industry. We work closely with our clients to develop customised solutions to mitigate risks like these, and minimise their impact on costs, service delivery and operational capacity. We are committed to investing in and developing the capacity and skills to help our clients manage their growth.

We know that technology is changing product design, business models, shopping behaviour and the competitive landscape in which our clients operate. For this reason, we strive to maintain a cutting-edge position when it comes to the latest technological advances that can optimise our solutions and drive our clients' competitiveness. Globalisation is driving borderless growth across established and emerging markets, while barriers to entry are being lowered, if not demolished. Some of the advanced technology that we are exploring and have already implemented includes mobile money and e-wallets, control towers, and handheld devices to manage and optimise sales performance.

Key clients

  • Diageo
  • Colgate-Palmolive
  • Tiger Brands
  • AMKA
  • Mondelez
  • GSK
  • Distell
  • McCain
  • Astral
  • Libstar
  • Lancewood
  • Goosebumps

Geographical representation

  • Gauteng
  • Durban
  • Bloemfontein
  • East London
  • Port Elizabeth
  • George
  • Cape Town
  • Polokwane
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