This year’s sell-out National Buying Group (NBG) Conference and AGM is set to be the biggest and best ever, with a record number of suppliers at the in-conference exhibition. The NBG is now one of the largest merchanting trade gatherings in the UK and has once again sold out within days of being announced. This year the NBG Conference will be held at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool on 13 and 14 November.

The event will bring together NBG’s merchant Partners for the formal proceedings of the AGM, along with a full a programme of business and leisure activities. The trade exhibition will feature 158 supplier stands, an increase of 17% on last year. The event is set to be extremely well supported by both merchants and suppliers with more than 540 delegates attended including 165 owners, principles, and MDs of the NBG merchant partners, and nearly 360 representatives from NBG suppliers.

“The NBG exhibition reinforces NBG’s ongoing focus on the supporting manufacturing brands with the theme being ‘Building Our Brands – Bigger, Bolder, Better.’ NBG offers a unique opportunity for independent merchants and their suppliers to interact, network together and do business,” says NBG MD Nick Oates. “Promoting and supporting our suppliers branded products through the new product showcase, special promotions and the face-to-face exhibition is a key message of the Conference. Our delegates report that they always return from the NBG Conference full of new ideas to improve and optimise their businesses and the exchange of information and sharing of best practice in an atmosphere of mutual cooperation is unrivalled.”

In addition to the AGM business and exhibition, this year will see the second Supplier Summit, a supplier-only seminar where NBG suppliers will be kept abreast of the latest NBG developments and innovations, along with plans for further improving the organisation’s operations.