Gross sales Layer joined the group behind BuildingMaterials.co.uk at Sensible Manufacturing facility Expo 2022 to debate all issues PIM. Mike Smee, Income & Operations at Gross sales Layer, sat down with the group to debate how utilizing a PIM has reworked their enterprise.
Inform us about BuildingMaterials.co.uk and your roles within the enterprise
“We have been based by Phil Lidgerton in 2003, with over 16 years of commerce expertise. Phil additionally labored in Distribution for 2 of the largest PLC firms; specializing in Ceilings, Drywall, Insulation and Partitioning. While working within the commerce, he discovered there was a niche out there for smaller companies and to supply extra private recommendation.
At present at ConstructingSupplies.co.uk we specialize within the provide of constructing and development supplies to contractors and finish customers; this consists of drylining, timber, insulation, suspended ceilings, partitioning, SFS metal framing programs, FSC certification timber, basic constructing supplies, and the whole lot in between!
Our commerce specialists discover prospects the fitting product, on the proper worth. Working carefully with among the greatest producers and distributors within the UK, we give an unmatched service to prospects who require constructing merchandise.
Mitchell Creffield is Head of Enterprise Development. He’s been with the corporate for 10 years and began in gross sales. He was the one who discovered about PIMs and commenced the journey of discovering the most effective answer for us as we had large development plans which meant how we have been beforehand working merely wouldn’t work.
Elizabeth Hobley has been with the corporate for 4 years and began as eCommerce Administrator the place she would replace costs however is now Product Operations Supervisor and has a group of 5 Product Content material Managers who all use the PIM to take care of their product areas.
Mitchell Welter is a Product Content material Managers and has had essentially the most important position within the implementation of the PIM. He was one of many first Product Content material Managers and has been right here since January 2022.”
What adjustments have you ever skilled during the last 12-24 months, contemplating enterprise development and challenges?
“First was the size of the problem. Now we have 500 totally different suppliers throughout 537 totally different classes with 50,000 SKUs, that are set to triple. These have been being held in a number of areas, spreadsheets and information in several repositories. Product data is shipped to us in all totally different codecs, so gathering content material from suppliers was difficult. Lengthy product launch cycles, attributable to inefficiencies in cross-department collaboration, workflow and knowledge sharing has slowed all our processes.”
It is fascinating to listen to you speak about your challenges as a enterprise, notably in gentle of the outstanding development you’ve got skilled. Why do you’re feeling that accelerated your want for a PIM answer?
“We would have liked a PIM to higher manage our merchandise and assist us so as to add extra merchandise and ranges faster. Earlier than the PIM, just one individual at a time might make bulk adjustments to the positioning which we knew wasn’t sensible for the scale we plan on rising to. We additionally needed to scale back total enterprise prices by saving time with a platform that streamlined duties. We noticed the shopper demand and the necessity to promote by totally different channels and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay which we’re in the midst of organising now. Having the ability to management what merchandise are offered on totally different channels is essential for us as we don’t need to promote all merchandise on all channels.
We regarded for a PIM answer that might do the whole lot we have been already doing however faster, extra organized, and on a bigger scale. We thought of different options, however SL ticked all the packing containers for a good worth. Additionally they take heed to our solutions and do common updates and enhancements to the platform.”
Why did you choose Gross sales Layer?
“There are lots of totally different PIMs on the market and we had demos with 6/7 different suppliers. Gross sales Layer was excellent at answering queries and was upfront concerning the limitations the platform had (not that it had many and all the opposite suppliers had the identical limitations). They’ve an skilled group and so they helped us with integration and developed the connector to swimsuit our wants. The Platform is straightforward to work in, extremely versatile and being a cloud-based answer means it isn’t IT dependent when adjustments must be made.
Together with different adjustments within the enterprise, Gross sales Layer enabled us to scale the enterprise by 35-40% 12 months on 12 months.”
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