RNF has become an Affiliated Solutions Provider Member of the Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA) and will be using its b2b.store platform to help electrical wholesalers and distributors get their businesses online as quickly and easily as possible.
Wholesalers can use RNF’s b2b.store to set up an ecommerce ordering system for their customers quickly, efficiently and for free. It is a fully-branded app using Progressive Web App (PWA) technology that enables digital ordering across mobile and desktop devices, with a host of premium features that can be subscribed to on top of the free version. Populating the b2b.store with high quality product data and imagery – historically one of the biggest barriers to getting online – has also got much easier for those wholesalers signed up to EDATA, the EDA’s product data pool, and b2b.store is fully synced with EDATA.
Margaret Fitzsimons, CEO at the EDA, comments: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how important it is for wholesalers to be able to serve their customers through a variety of different sales channels and enable them to purchase online but, historically, there are several barriers to overcome. There’s the time-consuming and resource-heavy exercise of obtaining high-quality product data as well as selecting the appropriate web application for the business. The EDATA data pool can provide a central source of manufacturer product data which wholesalers can access through subscription and this data can be fed directly to RNF’s App via b2b.store – it’s a very clever and practical solution that is likely to work well for many EDA members.”
b2b.store is the new, freemium offer from RNF, a digital specialist that made its name in the foodservice and retail wholesale sectors. It has won a host of awards for its digital services, including Best Supplier of Technology (The Grocer), Best App Developer (The Appsters), Rockstar Development Team and Retail and E-Commerce Innovator of the Year (The Techies).
Rob Mannion, founder and CEO of b2b.store, adds: “It’s an exciting time to be part of this forward-thinking digital initiative, which is being driven by the EDA.
“Digital ordering solutions have long been one of the main growth sales channels across the wholesale sector, allowing distributors to effectively put their depot in their customers’ pockets.
“Historically, developing these apps has been a time and cost-intensive process but advances in technology mean we are now able to offer fully-branded, progressive web apps to customers in a single click.
“Until now, there have been two major barriers to digital adoption by wholesalers and distributors, both of which are removed through this partnership with EDA: The first is ready access to standardised, high-quality product data that’s held in one location – the EDA’s eData portal provides that; the second is the ability to create a cost effective web shop that can be up and running within hours, and we have now shown that is fixable with b2b.store.”
Wholesalers and distributors wishing to find out more about b2b.store should get in touch with the b2b.store team here.
