NMBS is offering its suppliers access to free product information management (PIM) via the OnePlace platform.
The NMBS OnePlace B2B ordering and PIM platform offers better trading efficiencies for NMBS members and suppliers by giving merchants instant access to over 200,000 product lines and the related product information. The platform allows suppliers to make all of their products visible to more than 1,150 independent merchants across the UK.
Managing product data can be challenging in the construction sector, where a single company may have tens of thousands of product SKUs. If not managed correctly, it’s easy for product information to become out of date, especially if suppliers have to remember to make the same updates to numerous different databases both internally and for their merchant customers.
The PIM features on OnePlace are designed to collect and store data on thousands of products from hundreds of suppliers. Merchants can then view and search this information safe in the knowledge that the data is up to date, validated and accurate.
For suppliers, OnePlace provides a centralised, secure platform where they can store all the information about their products. This can include a product’s description, attributes, digital assets and all other information related to the product. OnePlace makes it quick and easy to maintain or make improvements to the product data at any time via its advanced connectivity and easy-to-use user interface.
Once the product data is in OnePlace it is simple for suppliers and merchants to export the data in their preferred format to their back office platform or other systems, such as a merchant’s E-Commerce platform. Exports are set up via Channels and, once set up, can be set to run on an automated frequency of their choosing. Suppliers’ products are instantly visible to every NMBS member, allowing them to easily search and source products. All members have access to export the product data in a format suitable to them, which means suppliers do not need to spend time providing the same data to multiple merchants in multiple different formats.
All NMBS suppliers now have basic access to OnePlace’s PIM features as part of their NMBS membership. They can introduce all their product information into OnePlace with no charge and then, for a small additional fee, can be given access to update their product information whenever they wish as well as having the ability to accept orders from within the platform.
OnePlace also offers a ‘health check’ feature, which will automatically check the data that has been submitted by a supplier and suggest ways in which they can improve it or add information that may be missing, to help ensure that suppliers provide as much of the quality data that merchants need as possible.
Reece Gerrard, NMBS E-Commerce Manager, said: “Our members are telling us that being able to access quality product data from suppliers is proving increasingly key to the success of their business. NMBS’ position in the industry means that we are ideally placed to be able to act as a conduit for that data from more than 500 industry suppliers.”
Any supplier interested in learning more about OnePlace should contact their NMBS Trading Manager or call 0116 253 0531 to speak with the NMBS E-Commerce team.
