Merchants are reportedly continuing to sign up to the NMBS’ Online Ordering Portal as new suppliers sign up to add their products to the system.
The portal was originally created in April 2018 to give independent merchants direct access to Worcester Bosch products following the closure of the BCG distribution business.
Now, almost 18 months on, the portal has grown significantly and active suppliers whose products can be purchased now include Main (part of Baxi), Glow-worm (part of Vaillant Group) and Vokèra by Riello, as well as Worcester Bosch.
According to the MBS the portal is also expanding beyond the heating sector, with Velux and Makita having added their products to the portal.
As of 4 November, more than 2,330 orders have reportedly been placed on the portal, with 144 NMBS members using it to place orders.
NMBS members simply log in to the portal with their personal account details. There, they will be able to see the supplier products available to order. Then they can simply choose the products they wish to purchase and submit the order electronically. They will receive an order acknowledgement and are also able to select their preferred delivery date. The order is then sent directly to the manufacturer.
Baljit Singh, NMBS’ Trading Manager – Lightside, says: “The NMBS Online Ordering Portal has been going really well; we’re getting a lot of traction from our members and suppliers and more orders are coming through every day. We have ambitious plans to add even more suppliers going forward, with a number of NMBS suppliers already testing the portal with us ready to go live early next year.”
The buying society’s objective is to continue rolling the portal out to even more suppliers and, as such, it is investing more time and resources to the project.
To reflect this investment, Reece Gerrard’s role at NMBS has changed to become E-Commerce Manager. He will be actively working to support new suppliers as they join the portal, as well as developing new technical features and benefits which will be made available to NMBS members.
Reece says: “My goals for the portal are to get new suppliers onboarded, and also to add new functionality, develop the current system and make it even more user friendly. Until recently the Portal has been used primarily by heating merchants, but since Velux and Makita went live we’ve had a variety of different merchants begin using the system and it’s expanding very quickly.
“Feedback we’ve had from those merchants already using the portal is great; they find it very quick and simple to use when they’re inputting orders on the system, and then to place repeat orders in the future.”
A key development NMBS has made is the ability to copy and paste product lines in bulk from a spreadsheet to allow members to repeat order with ease. Previously, merchants had to place their orders line by line, but now they can hit one button and the system will populate the information for them. This speeds up the ordering process as they don’t have to type the orders twice, and also helps prevent any ordering errors that could cause future problems for merchants and their customers.
Independent merchants who would like more information on the portal, or who would like to begin ordering online with NMBS, should contact Reece on 0116 253 0531.
