Opening a Plumbing Wholesalers ( Wales / Western England )

[Plumbster]

Hello All,

I am in the process of trying to open a new Plumbing Wholesalers in Wales / Western England.

I have identified distributors and potential property however; wanted to reach out and see if anyone had suggestions or comments on what a wholesaler should be.... e.g. what do you want to see when going into a wholesalers, what do you hate having to deal with when there, products you like/want but struggle to get..... basically anything you would want to say to a new wholesaler that will be opening its doors soon to help improve the way you buy ?

My KSP's will be:

• Long opening times ( 7am to 7p Mon/Fri and 9am to 5pm Sat/Sun )
• Out/Call Service (e.g. 24hrs stock availability if required / collection from store or delivery if local)
• Holding area ( e.g. Like Amazon has those orange collection areas, something similar outside our shop - i know this is a big thing in the USA for people that can't get to the store in time but purchase over the phone, account or online for collection )
• 30 Day Trade Account ( Limited to £250.00 for the first 6/9 months )
• Scope, due to size of the store for an electrical element / area ( however; will be controlled by a separate person ).

Anything else you would want.... Stock Wise, Price Wise, ect....

Sorry for the vague question 🙂

 

[fowlerboi]

I use a small independant. They are part of a buying group and keep prices close to the that of the national merchants.

The key reason I use them are:

• I use them as my personal warehouse, I'll take all the materials I need for a job and then just credit what I don't use (just specialist stuff that I wouldn't stock on the van)
• They have a dedicated boiler spares expert
• Free deliveries for anything
• A massive variety of stock so I never have to go else where.
• I can ring them up with any issues and they'll reaserch and resolve problems for me direct with manafacturers
• They take the fight to the manafacturers with any breakages, warranty or design issues and I get credited straight away.

You either need exceptional service, decent credit limits (around £1000 for most tradesman and £10,000+ for your big customers), cheap prices. With one of these you may get off the ground but the good merchants have all 3