Innovation in Building Materials Buying, Selling and Shipping Processes
Innovation is all around us. Processes that are typically manual and take time, are now being done automatically in real-time. We see it in other industries, and over time it slowly works itself into the building materials industry.
Over the last few years, and most recently with COVID-19, adoption to innovation has increased dramatically. That is a good thing. Consumers have easier, faster and more automated experiences everyday, and it’s only a matter a time before they demand it from our industry.
I remember in 2014 when I launched the AZEK Augmented Reality App, traveling around the country training dealers and contractors on this technology when most of them still had flip phones. Even back then, there was a “wow” factor when they saw that deck appear - it was like magic. Almost everyone (even the non-tech savvy) was ready to jump in as they saw an opportunity to grow their business.
That is a key point in the adoption of new technology and innovation. If you can prove that it fits into their current processes and ways of doing business, and it shows value immediately, then they are more likely to adopt.
It’s been exciting to see innovative solutions in all aspects of the building materials industry. Let’s take a look at a few innovations in the buying, selling and shipping processes.
B2B Buying and Selling
MaterialsXchange is making it easy to buy and sell lumber on their e-commerce platform. They are Bringing Commodities Trading Into The Digital Age. “For companies needing to source production raw materials, the commodities markets can be daunting. Particularly for small firms, getting price transparency for purchasers, and dealing with credit risk for sellers, have been significant challenges.”
I recently received a demo of MaterialsXchange and its user interface is impressive. It is simple and intuitive, and provides critical data that helps buyers and sellers. This is just the beginning for MaterialsXchange, who just launched in late 2019. As companies move to be more digital focused, MaterialsXchange will be ready to help them.
B2C E-Commerce for Large and Heavy Building Materials.
The buying experience has moved online for most industries years ago, and it’s just beginning to take hold in the building materials industry. One difficult aspect of building materials e-commerce is the size and weight of the prouducts. Wayfair has been selling furniture online for years, but it was typically only 1+ percent of their purchases (That has changed dramatically due to COVID-19). Most of their sales comes from the smaller accessory items; rugs, lamps, pillows, and decorative items.
Size and weight hasn’t stopped a few companies in taking on e-commerce solutions for the building materials industry.
Zenbuild.com has been selling brick and stone online for 5 years. They offer thousands of options and will ship directly to your home or job site.
The Deck Store sells composite decking, furniture, accessories and more online. Decking typically comes in 16 or 20 foot lengths, and is expensive and difficult to ship. But they have worked for over a decade to solve these problems and offer an e-commerce solution to their customers.
Shipping Made Easy
We all love Uber (well, we used too). Maybe I should say, we all love the ease and simplicity of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. But did you know Uber offers a service for freight shipments? It’s called UberFreight. I love it. It’s taking a service that is typically tedious and manual, and simplifying it to the point of almost making it automated.
This is just the beginning for digital technology and innovation in our industry. We can’t wait to see how the building materials industry adapts and begins to adopt technology.
What other unique examples of digital technology and innovation are you seeing? Leave us a comment.