How Bradfords Building Supplies transformed its specialist product offering through strategic partnership with James Latham.
As demand grows for higher specification timber and panel products, builders' merchants are increasingly being required to extend their offer beyond core commodity-focused ranges. This shift, driven by more detailed architectural specifications and changing customer expectations, raises a practical question for many businesses: how to supply specialist materials without taking on excessive stock risk.
Bradfords Building Supplies, partnered with James Latham, the UK's largest independent timber and panel distributor, to face this challenge as enquiries for bespoke and less commonly stocked products began to increase across its branch network.
The changing market
Like many merchants, Bradfords was working with a broad range of suppliers to cover different product categories. While functional, this approach left gaps in market knowledge, particularly around pricing and availability of higher-specification materials. It also limited confidence at branch level when responding to more technical enquiries.
Working with multiple suppliers made it difficult to maintain consistent stock levels without tying up significant capital. Specialist timber and panel products tend to be slower moving, making it difficult to justify holding significant volumes across multiple locations. At the same time, customers expected access to these materials within increasingly tight timeframes.
This left the business balancing two competing pressures: expanding its range to meet demand, while avoiding unnecessary capital tied up in stock.
Finding the right fit
To address these challenges, Bradfords moved towards a more consolidated supply model, reducing the number of specialist suppliers it relied on and working more closely with a single distributor, James Latham, with a broad, established product range.
The intention was not simply to streamline procurement, but to create a more structured way of accessing specialist timber and panel products. By aligning with a distributor able to hold a wide variety of materials centrally, including sheet materials, hardwoods and cladding, Bradfords was able to extend its effective product range without increasing the complexity of its supply base.
A key shift was moving away from branch-led stockholding. Instead of committing capital to slower-moving lines, branches used the distributor's inventory as an extension of their own, enabling them to respond to demand without carrying significant local stock. A strategy aligned with Lathams' campaign strapline for the merchant sector: ‘We stock it so you don't have to'.
Reliable delivery supported this model, allowing for smaller, more frequent orders aligned to customer requirements rather than forecasts. Alongside this, greater emphasis was placed on product knowledge. Training and technical support helped branch teams better understand specifications and applications, enabling more confident responses to specialist enquiries.
Together, these changes combined supply chain consolidation, reduced stock exposure and improved in-branch capability, creating a more flexible approach to specialist product demand.
Building branch-level confidence
A programme of branch-level training was introduced to build familiarity with specialist timber and panel products. This was designed to help teams better understand product applications and respond more effectively to customer enquiries.
At the same time, ordering patterns shifted. Instead of placing larger, less frequent orders, branches moved towards smaller, more regular purchases aligned with customer demand. This reduced the amount of capital tied up in inventory while maintaining access to a broader range of products.
Additionally, delivery schedules were structured to support this approach. James Latham's 24/5 depot operations enable relatively short lead times and reduced the need for speculative stockholding.
A success story in the making
Andrew Jones, Merchant Sector Manager at James Latham, describes Bradfords as their "biggest success story", noting the business has grown significantly over the past two to three years.
Paul Crook, Timber Development Manager, Bradfords Building Supplies says, "Access to James Latham's product range has significantly strengthened our ability to meet customer requirements, especially for specialist and hard-to-source products." The merchant has seen substantial growth in sales of decorative MDF, birch plywood and Buffalo® phenolic-faced board.
Operationally, the business reduced its reliance on holding specialist stock at branch level, while maintaining service levels. Improved product knowledge also supported more consistent customer interactions, particularly where technical specification was required.
Building long-term success
Bradfords' experience highlights a wider shift within the merchant sector. As demand for specialist materials increases, traditional stock-led models can become less viable, particularly for products with lower turnover.
In response, some merchants are adopting supply chain approaches that prioritise access over ownership of stock, supported by closer collaboration with key distributors and a greater emphasis on knowledge transfer.
