With a major rebranding exercise completed earlier in the year, Stockgap is highlighting how its product portfolio and service offering — reinforced by the distributor’s ‘merchant-only’ policy — is helping to ease supply chain pressures within the sector. PBM reports.
Knowing what customers want and being able to deliver when you say you can is of critical importance throughout the building materials supply chain. With this message central to its ethos, Stockgap states that it has become “renowned for putting merchants first and ensuring the on-time delivery of a wide range of building products” to the fast-paced and competitive merchant trade counter market.
Recent years have seen continuing stock uncertainty and the challenges of financial instability, rising material and energy costs and the cost of borrowing. In such a volatile economic landscape, roadblocks might seem to be at every junction — which is why stock management had become so vital.
It can be argued that builders’ merchants need more support than ever, and the certainty of supply is perhaps far more important than price. Their customers expect them to provide a reliable and agile service, so it’s essential that merchants have consistently high stock availability to meet customer expectations regarding supply — something which is essential in helping builders mitigate delays or losses due to material shortages.
A potted history
As a distributor for merchants based in the south-east, Stockgap was founded in 1981, having started out selling everything from builder’s buckets and troughs to boilers and recycled plastic trellis. Indeed, the business name was derived from the fact the distributor had the market proposition of: “We fill the gaps in your stock.”
The company went from strength-to-strength, offering a wide range of building products and expanding its delivery area from London and Kent to what is now a customer base of over 1,500 merchants across the entire south-east region. It works closely with manufacturers to ‘break bulk’ and make ordering easier for its merchant customers.
“Certainty of supply is perhaps far more important than price. Tradespeople expect merchants to provide a reliable and agile service, so it’s essential that they have consistently high stock availability to meet customer expectations.”
However, the company recognises that it is not only about supplying merchants with market leading building materials — relationships are also an important element of this. Stockgap says it works very hard at establishing those relationships and they are built on trust, credibility, and delivering what it says it will deliver.
Adopting a “proactive and passionate” approach, the distributor works together with merchant teams to identify opportunities for growth in their area and then chasing those opportunities from enquiry through to order — which are then back sold through the merchant partner.
New branding
This spring Stockgap unveiled its eye-catching new identity and branding, which has been rolled out in a comprehensive programme that includes a new logo, packaging, marketing and merchandising materials.
This has been designed to reflect the distributor’s continued commitment to merchant members and is built around two of the company’s pledges — ‘Putting Merchants First’ and ‘Ordered Delivered Done’. It also reflects its market leading position as a distributor of steel and concrete lintels, roof windows, decking, railings, corrugated roofing sheets, drainage, manhole covers, metalwork and plasterer’s bead and mesh.
Commenting on the new branding at the time of the launch, MD Mark Reid (pictured below) said: “We are really excited to launch this sharp new brand identity which expresses the energy and ambitions of the Stockgap proposition to its merchant customers. As a merchant-only business, we are looking forward to the new branding generating specifications and driving increasing sales for all of our merchant customers.”
And with what it describes as a “proven track record of putting merchants first,” Stockgap has developed a reputation for being a reliable distribution partner of well-known and respected product brands such as Keystone Lintels, IG Lintels, Keylite Roof Windows, TherraWood Decking, James Hardie Fibre Cement Wall Cladding, ACO Line Drainage and Supreme Concrete Lintels. While Stockgap does interact with builders and contractors, its loyalty is to merchants only as every single order is sold back through merchants.
Stockgap buys in bulk and breaks stock to provide its merchant customers with cost effective access to these key brands, noting that “simplicity is the name of the game.” Furthermore, the business states that it has developed its enviable position by offering a fast turnaround and with no minimum order requirement. Typically, this “fast, reliable and efficient” delivery service is provided to branch or direct to customers within 24 – 48 hours.
Managing the expectations of customers in challenging times has never been more important. From its Dartford base, Stockgap says that merchants can also rely on its highly experienced and knowledgeable team to assist them with any queries and to “ensure the right product is delivered on time, every time.”
Click here for more information on Stockgap’s full portfolio of products along with its support services for merchants.
A version of this article appeared in the July/August edition of Professional Builders Merchant. Click here to read the full digital issue online via the PBM website.
