Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
KRM Building Supplies has announced the launch of its new state-of-the-art ecommerce website, developed in collaboration with Red Technology.
KRM’s legacy platform previously experienced issues with displaying pricing and the customary units of measure for the merchant industry. It meant they relied on a catalogue site, rather than being able to offer a fully transactional ecommerce site. With customer’s wanting to order online they needed a new ecommerce platform that could seamlessly integrate with its Kerridge K8 ERP system and deliver accurate, real-time pricing across its entire product range.
“We knew our customers wanted to be able to order online as we had many enquiries from customers already using the catalogue site to quote product codes when ordering offline” said Chris Ainsworth, ecommerce manager at KRM Building Supplies.
“The backend integration wasn’t going to be straightforward so launching with an experienced ecommerce agency and systems integrator like Red Technology was paramount. They’ve been able to take the data from Kerridge and display it in a logical and user-friendly way to customers on the front end. So much so, that it’s also now a tool used by our internal teams to look up pricing for client jobs.”
“Due to the nature of the products they sell and how they are priced, integration with their ERP was less straightforward than for most projects.” said Dinuka Costa, ecommerce consultant at Red Technology.
“Normally when retrieving stock and pricing via an API it’s a simple unit, but for bricks, block paving, timber, artificial grass etc… that’s not the case. The flexibility of tradeit means we were able to deliver a great user experience for their customers and a seamless integration for KRM.”
All customers, both trade and public, will be able to shop 24/7 in their own time, view live product stock information, and pick up orders at their convenience. There’s also a number of product calculators to aid customer purchasing, tools to aid fast and intuitive product search, as well as quick ordering and re-ordering tools. Following the launch of the new KRM Building Supplies website, DIY enthusiasts and tradespeople are encouraged to visit www.krmbs.com to explore the latest products and offers.
