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phuddelec

Hi I am new to blogging / forums and new to Electrical Wholesaling. having been an electrician / engineer for some 25 plus years when fate decided that I would change career and end up in the Electrical Wholesale business. A highly competitive market with a 1001 different variants for every item we sell, anyway I had a brain wave - sell on the net I thought, bound to be a gold mine. but the question I ask is this would an Electrical Professional use such a medium to actually procure electrical items or would you rather look then use the phone etc. to make the final purchase.

Feedback would be very much appreciated.
 
Best of luck with the venture, but you will have very stiff competition from ebay! Lots of surplus stock on there at cheap prices. You may be better off selling more complex stock suh as instrumentation and control gear.
Anyway just a thought
matt
 
Already do- mainly to save petrol costs and my time when not in immediate need - but they do next day delivery anyway!
You have massive competion to fight from well established companies with bulk buying power;
TLC.co.uk
Screwfix
powerstation
CPC.co.uk
 
Thanks for feedback, I appreciate we have competition but being part of the IBA (some £50 Million pa Buying Power) we are able to compete, as with all things its about getting price as well as service right, now I know people will buy on line I will continue to push on. I suppose as with all things we need to let people know that we will still negotiate for orders - quite difficult online!!
 
The key is as you said price and service.
I have no problems with buying online, I usually buy from recommended sites though, so to start with you'd have to attract buyers.
I'm sure members from this forum would show interest and if the price is right to start with and then the elivery and backup is good then I'm sure you'll do well.
I buy from a couple of local suppliers, sometimes playing one against the other for price / delivery just to keep them on their toes.
Good luck with your venture and let us know the website when / if it's up and running.

Andy
 
Web site is up and running ( MH Electrical Distributors Ltd ) - still developing some aspects and have already had some customers, it is being marketed through web hosing company at present but I believe it takes about 6 weeks to filter into the system.

Regards

Paul
 
Paul,

It really is a case of 'you look after the customer' the 'customer will look after you'.

If you have worked as an engineer, you will know that time, quality of goods and services is crucial for us to get the job done and move onto the next one. Essentially earning more money!

I believe that companies like Screwfix have adapted to this sequence to support the trade’s person and hence have competitive prices, branded & unbranded product offerings together with a super fast delivery service. They also put certain package deals together (i.e. New board + 10 sockets etc) which can be attractive for any new rewire work.

Now I do have an account with screwfix and I do have accounts with local wholesalers (who are IBA members) and I must admit I tend to use my local suppliers 99% of the time (i.e. either pop or in or they deliver to the job) generally because they look after me, but the screwfix account on-line is very handy if I have forgotten something (standard type stock) that I need desperately quickly.

You know yourself that word of mouth is the best form of business, as you’re on this site why not enquire about sponsoring the site and offer some deals to the members? Not sure how many members there are but we all use supplies?

Why not add a link to this site from your site and vice versa?

You may have to speak with one of the moderators of the site but you could create a best buys link, where you could offer some deals to the members etc?

Anyway just some food for though, best of luck with your venture!

Warren
 
Thanks Warren,

Valid points throughout, I too have a screwfix card - "from a previous life", a point raised in our office recently was that the "local guys" have a wealth of experience where as Screwfix have order pickers who pick from deidcated bins, the former can often help in the choice of equipment or at least stop you buying incompatible or the wrong products, reality is again as you say - look after each other, we all have a place in this business.

I will look into the links / best buys etc. Thanks

Regards

Paul
 
Site look good and competitive too , will keep the link saved and if you can beat my local wholesalers price , i,d be happy to use you
 
Thanks for your comments, I have still a lot of work to do on the site but will chip away slowly at building it up, as you say the prices are keen, as we aim to be competitive.

Regards

Paul
 
Will look at your site after this. - I use toolstation (90%) then screwfix and after that (or cheaper) anyone like -Trading post (tried ordering of TLCdirect but order went missing for a day?) Ordering of net works most of the time apart from damaged in transit goods and the occasional wrongly picked part. I Like TS as get parts next day everytime. Im always price checking on net and finding better products for future jobs (eg. WISKA enclosures). - Biggest problem is waiting for parts from companies who dont state delivery times (dont know when part will arrive for job). Spoke to JSC employee who says dont make any money on many electrical products - but need them to keep electricians coming into there store. (loss leaders). - good luck anyway....
 
I roder alot of stuff online from general sellers RS, CPC, TLC and others which you have to be account holder to access the site and as long as delivery is reliable and prices good i prefer it to dealing with trade counters waiting inline and dealing with idiots however sometimes you need stuff same day the best thing about online orders is you can do it at 3 a.m., 6.a.m. or anytime you can or like. If you can offer better service locally and more options nationally you may have an idea. The costs of advertising and pushing your site to the masses will make the decision for you.
 

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