Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
IBC is celebrating its member-first strategy with a refreshed brand and a clean, modern look to make it easier for members to engage with the buying group.
Earlier this year, IBC completed its first customer insight project. A research agency was commissioned to talk to IBC members and understand their views on the buying group and their individual business needs, to ensure IBC continues to provide everything its members need to grow and develop their businesses. This is part of IBC’s member-first strategy, which puts members at the heart of everything IBC does.
Stuart Stockley, Managing Director of IBC Buying Group, explained: “We understand how important communication is in ensuring our members understand the many benefits of working with IBC.
“We want them to take advantage of our great prices and the exclusive promotions we offer with our supplier partners, and that means sending them the information in a clear, straightforward format to help them make key decisions without delay. That’s why, after listening to our members’ feedback, we have updated our branding to give it a fresh, modern look.”
A key finding from the research was how important it is for IBC to communicate with its members, with 92% of them saying they wanted to receive promotions and offers from IBC by email on a regular basis.
IBC is now updating all its marketing materials, both in print and digitally, to reflect this new brand, making its communications easier to read and understand to encourage greater engagement between IBC, its members and supplier partners.
IBC Buying Group is the largest member buying group for independent merchants in the UK, with more than 220 members trading from over 330 branches, and a collective buying power in excess of £600 million.
Members of IBC Buying Group have access to industry leading products in a variety of categories from bricks, timber and cement to tools and ironmongery. IBC Buying Group carefully chooses its supplier partners to ensure the very best quality products, creating strategic partnerships that together can cater to all the needs of a busy builders’ merchant.
As well as competitive pricing and exclusive deals, IBC Buying Group also offers a wide range of business-critical services in partnership with leading service providers, who can support merchants with a suite of features including HR, card payments, software solutions, health and safety, security and utilities deals.
