The DIY Home Center is an online-only distributor of building supplies that has been expanding its array of SKUs, getting more customers, and boosting sales. Its powerful new tactic? An integrated e-comemrce and ERP software suite.
Technology can take a good business and make it great. The DIY Home Center has experienced this first-hand. DIY’s offerings include items necessary to build structures such as outdoor decks, offering railings, fasteners and other construction materials. Currently, their SKU number is between 10,000 and 12,000 SKUs from some 35 suppliers.
The company’s main source of sales comes from the DIY (Do-It-Yoursef) customers. Although they make for a large portion of revenue, and although the company was doing well, it wanted to take its annual revenue even further by engaging the professional contractor base.
“The business customers are the ones we’re trying to go after,” president and founder Michael Anderson says. “They’re the ones that come back to us without our having to market heavily to them.”
As an online-only distributor, it realized that in order to upgrade its business, it had to first upgrade its technology – both the customer-facing e-commerce site and the back-end enterprise to manage its functionality.
With the new technology integration, the business is noticing not only a change in business, but also in inquiries from customers. “We’re seeing a shift in our call volume to fewer ‘Where’s my order?’ to more ‘How can you help me with railing products?’ Those are the type of calls we want to take.”
For more information on how DIY Home Center did it, click HERE.
Supply Chain, The Fastener Museum
