NMBS says that more suppliers are seeing the benefits of signing up to its OnePlace platform as it prepares to introduce products from almost 50 new companies in the coming months.
OnePlace is NMBS’ B2B ordering and Product Information Management (PIM) platform, which was developed to help both members and suppliers manage their product data in one place. Nineteen suppliers have gone live with OnePlace since it was first developed, with more than 90,000 products available on the platform for NMBS members to order and download data from the PIM. Another 48 companies from across the industry are expected to go live during Quarter 2 of 2021, further expanding the product range available on the PIM and B2B ordering.
The PIM database holds detailed information about every product a supplier sells, which the merchant can download into their e-commerce platform, back office or cataloguing system.
Suppliers receive electronic orders from independent merchants, through OnePlace, which are validated according to that company’s ordering rules before being submitted. This means the supplier will always receive clean orders – reducing the number of queries and making the entire ordering process more efficient. To further help with efficiencies, the platform can now accept uploaded PDF and XML orders from merchants, which will be further extended in 2021.
More than 6,500 orders have already been submitted through OnePlace, accounting for sales well over £200 million, with this figure expected to increase exponentially over the coming months.
Heating and hot water company Worcester Bosch was the first supplier to join OnePlace, and has seen the benefits the platform can bring.
Steve Lister, Sales & Marketing Director at Worcester Bosch, explained: “As a supplier, the OnePlace platform has worked really well. It’s easy to use, and from a logistical and financial perspective it’s been pretty much seamless – certainly as good as any other EDI system that’s out there.
“OnePlace has also given us the ability to communicate our key messages to NMBS members on a more direct, regular basis. Now we have much stronger, closer relationships than we had before, and take-up from NMBS members is increasing all the time.
“Our proposition to NMBS members today is completely different to what it was two years ago. We started with an offer, and over the months we have adapted and fine-tuned it to give the best service to independent merchants. That’s definitely attracted more NMBS members to purchase Worcester Bosch products using the One Place platform.
“The platform is incredibly responsive, and is adapting and getting stronger all the time – kudos to all involved.”
For more details visit www.nmbs.co.uk.
