Kilpboard explain why now is the time for UK electrical wholesalers to digitise

​The UK electrical wholesale market, valued at £4.28 billion in 2024, is experiencing significant shifts driven by digital transformation and sustainability initiatives (AMA Research, 2024).

To remain competitive, electrical wholesalers are increasingly adopting digital technologies to enhance operations and customer service. By integrating advanced technologies, wholesalers can streamline operations, reduce errors, and enhance customer satisfaction, positioning themselves competitively in a rapidly evolving market.​ The timing has never been better for electrical wholesalers to embrace digital transformation.

What is digitisation?

Digitisation describes how companies can improve their processes and operations through digital technologies. For example, digitisation could involve implementing a new ERP system to streamline inventory management. Alternatively, it could provide real time stock visibility, helping electrical wholesalers in preventing costly overstocks.

In either case, such innovations are no longer just nice to have. These days, industry leaders see digitisation as essential to a successful, modern electrical wholesale business.

The evidence why speaks for itself. Early adopters routinely report that digitisation has helped them increase productivity, reduce operational costs, and quickly adapt to market changes ‘on the fly’ while having fully comprehensive control of their stock.

Should wholesalers invest in digital transformation today, or take a wait-and-see approach?

At klipboard, the new name for Kerridge Commercial Systems, we think the time to act is now, and for the following reasons:

Enhanced efficiency and productivity

Electrical wholesalers dealing with complex inventory and high-demand supply chains can replace inaccurate and labour-intensive paper-based systems with precise, real-time digital solutions. By adopting mobile technology on the shop floor and in the warehouse, businesses can eliminate paper duplication, streamline order processing, reduce costly errors, and improve stock management. This not only enhances overall efficiency but also cuts processing time, reduces waste, and helps wholesalers save thousands on administrative overheads.

Real-time data and analytics

Digital ERP systems provide instant insights and snapshots into a wholesaler’s daily operations. As a result, there’s no longer any need to spend days or hours running reports. All the data they need to make better decisions and improve performance is at their fingertips.

Also, using an ERP system makes identifying emerging trends much easier. When stock and balance sheets are input digitally, sophisticated algorithms make it much easier for users to successfully forecast demand.

Total inventory management

Keeping accurate stock records is crucial for electrical wholesalers, especially during busy periods. Digital ERP software gives wholesalers a suite of tools to manage every aspect of their inventory, helping them maintain optimal stock levels.

Additionally, by ensuring the right products are always available when customers need them, a fully digitised wholesale business is better able to maximise its sales all year round.

Enhanced customer service

In business, building trust through professional relationships is key, and today’s digitised electrical wholesalers can offer a seamless and personalised customer experience that their paper-based rivals can’t. For example, a digitalised wholesaler’s system will have customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities that help them see client preferences, purchase history, and overall engagement.

Accordingly, it’s easy for digitised wholesaler to offer customers tailored promotions. And, of course, faster and more accurate order processing is another example of how digitisation can help improve electrical wholesaler’s overall level of customer service.

Streamlined financial management

Wholesale businesses embracing digitisation can also optimise cash flow with integrated accounting and financial reporting features. It’s also possible to automate whole processing tasks, such as the administration of accounts payable, removing the need for paper administration, meaning wholesalers can now redeploy valuable resources where they’re needed most.

Enhanced supply chain management

Effective supply chain management is critical for electrical wholesalers’ reputations and cash flow. However, digitising this process through a cloud-based ERP system makes it easy to optimise procurement processes, manage supplier relationships, and ensure timely delivery of materials.

Compliance and risk management

One regularly overlooked but critical part of modern business is complying with industry regulations and standards. One of the easiest and most reliable ways of doing this is by digitising how your electrical wholesale business administers sensitive information. Users scan documents onto a secure, cloud-based ERP system, where they’re available for audits and inspections.

Integration with ecommerce

As the electrical industry increasingly moves online, ERP systems’ integration with ecommerce platforms means that wholesalers can tap into new revenue streams. By offering online ordering and customer self-service options, businesses can expand their reach and access new markets at any time.

Sustainability and waste reduction

Digitisation contributes to sustainability by optimising resource usage and reducing waste. Fully digital ERP systems encourage their users to send PDFs instead of printing and collating their user manuals online, again dramatically helping cut carbon usage. Further reductions occur in the full digitisation of paper-based processes and monitoring systems that help wholesalers eliminate unnecessary fuel waste with their deliveries.

Maximise sales

The Luckins online catalogue is an essential sales tool for electrical wholesalers, offering up to date product information, on over one million items from hundreds of manufacturers. With detailed specifications, images and related accessories, it helps wholesalers better meet customer needs.

By integrating Luckins enriched product data in to their ecommerce and in store experience through ERP software, electrical wholesalers can now see another benefit of digitisation and offer comprehensive product information, enhanced ecommerce capability and improved customer service.

Conclusion

Going digital is the only way electrical businesses can stay successful in an increasingly demanding and competitive marketplace. Those businesses that have yet to enjoy the benefits of digitalisation should act before they are left behind.

To learn more about how the ERP solutions and integrated apps from klipboard can help your business trade more profitably, click here

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Six businesses celebrated receiving an EDA Data Quality Award recently as part of the Association’s Annual Digitalisation Forum in the City of London. Presenting the Awards were Edgar Aponte, CEO at Rexel UK, and Richard Appleton, the EDA’s Head of Digitalisation.

This year’s winners were drawn from amongst the 70+ leading manufacturer brands subscribing to the EDATA data pool to share their product information with multiple wholesalers. Every EDA member wholesaler has free access to EDATA, and this year an additional award was given to Worcester Electrical Distributors Ltd in recognition of their early adoption and integration of the data pool into their business.

This year’s EDA Data Quality Award winners were:

Aico Ltd
Overall Data Quality Award <1,000 SKUs

D G Controls Ltd
Overall Data Quality Award 1,000 – 2,000 SKUs

CMP Products Ltd
Overall Data Quality Award >2,000 SKUs

Atkore Unistrut & Marco
Most Complete ETIM data 

Electrium Sales Ltd (A Siemens Company)
Data Maintenance Award

Worcester Electrical Distributors Ltd
EDATA Early Adopter

100 delegates attended the EDA’s Digitalisation Forum & Data Quality Awards, hearing presentations from expert speakers on a range of digitalisation topics, including a session and panel discussion on the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the UK’s electrotechnical sector delivered by AI expert and innovator, Paul Bratcher.

In addition to the main Awards, eight businesses received a commendation for achieving Gold Standard product data in the EDATA data pool, bringing the total number of manufacturers with Gold Standard product data to 39:

• Aurora Lighting
• Atkore Unistrut & Marco
• CMP Products Ltd
• Deta Electric Co Ltd
• Electrium Sales (A Siemens Company)
• Elta Trade
• Greenbrook
• Olympic Fixings

Margaret Fitzsimons, CEO at the EDA, said: “The EDATA data pool is one of the key pillars of the EDA’s work and we have experienced substantial growth since we launched in 2020. In October this year we sailed past the 200,000 SKUs live in EDATA but we never take our eyes off the ball when it comes to data quality. Wholesalers, and their contractor customers, depend on easy access to enriched product information to drive sales and today our Awards recognise the fantastic work that businesses of all sizes are putting in to supporting wholesaler businesses.”

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New research from Schneider Electric has revealed that almost half (45%) of industrial companies believe digitalisation will be the primary reason that new operational technology (OT) job roles will be created in the next three years.

The research, commissioned by Schneider Electric and carried out by global research leader Omdia, polled 407 industrial companies ranging from small and medium enterprises to large companies across western Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden), the US, China, India, and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines). The study highlighted the scale of the global industrial skills crisis, with talent acquisition a key challenge for more than half of those surveyed (52%).

However, it also identified the cure for this problem. Alongside job creation, over two-thirds (70%) of those surveyed agree that digitalisation will help to tackle talent shortages, highlighting the potential of digital tools to deliver more than just productivity and efficiency.

While the skills crisis rages, the industrial workplace is undergoing rapid change. Sustainability goals and advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital twins, are becoming further integrated into the workforce. The research found that 45% and 47% respectively believe that the increasing requirements of industrial companies to meet environmental and social sustainability goals will require a significant extension of existing job roles in the plant.

“Digitalisation doesn’t just benefit productivity and overall efficiency. It’s vital for solving some of the people-centric challenges facing industrial businesses,” said Ali Haj Fraj, Senior Vice President, Digital Factory, Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric. “There’s a real opportunity for industrial enterprises to optimize and enhance OT roles. By reducing the time spent on administrative tasks and enabling people to better fulfil their potential, we can solve many of the key challenges facing these businesses and help build a more sustainable future.”

The survey found that over half of respondents (52%) consider talent acquisition and retention to be a challenge, but one that can be overcome, showing that a level of optimism is shared among industrial businesses around overcoming workforce challenges.

Three in five (60%) believe OT roles will change in the next three years, either moderately (41%) or significantly (19%). Furthermore, a large majority (73%) agree that digitalisation will substantially change the nature of work in the next three years. Three in ten (31%) consider quality-control roles to be most significantly augmented or enhanced by digitalisation.

“The changing nature of the industrial workforce is, and will increasingly, necessitate investment in digitalization to empower staff and improve productivity and efficiency,” said Alex West, Senior Principal Analyst, Industrial IoT and Sustainability at Omdia. “If they don’t, the broader and more serious longer-term impact will be on innovation and an inability to mitigate talent shortages.”

The full report, entitled The Future of Work in Industry, can be accessed here.  

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