5 Trends That Are Shaping Our Market

The world is evolving constantly and shaping the markets we operate in. We see five key trends that we must consider when developing our strategy and proposition. We must continue to be agile to react to the ever‑changing market demands and future proof our business, while focused on our long-term vision.

1. Ease of Doing Business

Our B2B customers are expecting a personalised, seamless experience mirroring the B2B online experience. Our suppliers want a partner that understands their products and that they can work with to bring their products to market successfully.

Our strategic response:

• Digitally enabling a more globally aligned and data-driven solutions offering that builds on our core strengths, while helping us move up the value chain with both customers and suppliers.
• Investing in our digital capabilities to onboard new products and, for our customers, to purchase products with ease.
• Operating as one global unified brand so that we are easy to explain and understand.
• Continue to invest in our supply chain networks and DC infrastructure to increase capacity and local sourcing capabilities.

2. Providing Solutions

Offering solutions is a key differentiator for any organisation and our customers are increasingly expecting solutions to solve their immediate problems and predict problems before they happen.

Our strategic response:

• Shifting our global focus towards MRO to exploit fully our digital channels, increasing our inventory holding and leveraging our global presence.
• Developing digitally-led solutions offering.
• RS Industria® provides continuous insight into the operational health and sustainability of industrial assets and equipment.
• RS Integrated Supply providing ESG efficiencies as customers consolidate their procurement needs.

3. One Stop Shop

Our customers are seeking to simplify their supplier base, leverage spend and realise greater value. Receiving products and services from one provider saves time and generates cost efficiencies.

Our strategic response:

• Bringing together our innovation ecosystem of DesignSpark, OKdo and RS Think Hub, enabling us to move more quickly with new innovations and deliver greater value to our supplier network
• Working to support the convergence of industrial and electronics applications, with ESG as an underpin. This has meant that within our electronics offer we are becoming more focused on our industrial customers and their need to solve their problems with electronics.
• Improving and investing in our processes and applications to accelerate new product introductions.

4. Consolidation

The market is consolidating at pace increasing two fold over the last ten years, driven by globalisation and digitalisation. This will accelerate scale and lead to improved efficiencies.

Our strategic response:

• Ensuring we maintain a strong balance sheet to provide the support to drive consolidation.
• Clear and disciplined criteria set to focus on potential acquisitions which will provide solution capability expansion, new or adjacent product range extensions, geographic opportunities and operational excellence.
• Strengthening our corporate development and integration teams to support a pipeline of potential acquisitions and integration.
• Acquisitions of two businesses during 2022/23 with a further announced in April 2023.

5. Increased focus on sustainability

ESG has fast become a priority for all our stakeholders and increasingly we have seen greater focus on more sustainable products, distribution and service solutions, responsible supply chain practices and inclusive culture.

Our strategic response:

• Robust 2030 ESG action plan with four global goals to achieve by 2030
• Established ESG solutions function to develop a differentiated suite of ESG-related product and service solutions
• Launched a more sustainable product range, Better World products, in the UK and Republic of Ireland
• Supplier ESG conferences to drive action and solutions for customers
• Participated in a business partnership programme with Offshore Wind Growth Partnership

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This was taken from Page 11 of the RS Group Annual Report FY23