OnePlace helps to drive additional product sales for merchants by creating an endless line of products that can be sold online or in-branch.
More suppliers are seeing the benefits of signing up to NMBS OnePlace as the platform prepares to introduce products from almost 50 new companies in the coming months.
OnePlace is NMBS’ industry leading B2B ordering and Product Information Management platform, which was developed to help both members and suppliers manage their product data in one place.
Nineteen suppliers have gone live with OnePlace since it was first developed, with more than 90,000 products available on the platform for NMBS members to order and download data from the PIM.
Another 48 companies from across the industry are expected to go live during Quarter 2 of 2021, further expanding the product range available on the PIM and B2B ordering.
OnePlace helps to drive additional product sales for merchants by creating an endless line of products that can be sold online or in-branch. The comprehensive PIM database holds detailed information about every product a supplier sells, which the merchant can download into its e-commerce platform, back office or cataloguing system.
Suppliers receive electronic orders from independent merchants, through OnePlace, which are validated according to that company’s ordering rules before being submitted. This means the supplier will always receive clean orders – reducing the number of queries and making the entire ordering process more efficient. To further help with efficiencies, the platform can now accept uploaded PDF and XML orders from merchants, which will be further extended in 2021.
More than 6,500 orders have already been submitted through OnePlace, accounting for sales well over £200 million, with this figure expected to increase exponentially over the coming months.
Heating and hot water company Worcester Bosch was the first supplier to join OnePlace, and has seen the benefits the platform can bring.
Steve Lister, Sales & Marketing Director at Worcester Bosch, said: “We began working with NMBS to develop the OnePlace platform two years ago. Going into partnership with NMBS gave us a new avenue to cater for our independent merchant customers, and made it much easier for NMBS members to place an order with us, which is something that was missing before.
“As a supplier, the OnePlace platform has worked really well. It’s easy to use, and from a logistical and financial perspective it’s been pretty much seamless – certainly as good as any other EDI system that’s out there.
“OnePlace has also given us the ability to communicate our key messages to NMBS members on a more direct, regular basis. Now we have much stronger, closer relationships than we had before, and take-up from NMBS members is increasing all the time."
Lister continued: "Our proposition to NMBS members today is completely different to what it was two years ago. We started with an offer, and over the months we have adapted and fine-tuned it to give the best service to independent merchants. That’s definitely attracted more NMBS members to purchase Worcester Bosch products using the One Place platform.
“The platform is incredibly responsive, and is adapting and getting stronger all the time – kudos to all involved.”
Any supplier interested in learning about how they can become approved for OnePlace should contact their Trading Manager, or call 0116 253 0531 or the NMBS E-Commerce team on e-orders@nmbs.co.uk.
