Benefits

Flooring Industry companies, from suppliers to retailers connect when they are using fcB2B standards. The supply chain advantage begins with the cost benefits fcB2B technologies offer.

What can fcB2B do for you?

Click on any of the boxes below to view how fcB2B benefits that portion of the supply chain.

Retailers

Across the flooring industry, hundreds of thousands of orders are manually sent to distributors and manufacturers every month. History has shown there is an error rate between 1-2%, no matter how diligent everyone is in checking and rechecking the order. 1 to 2% may not sound like much, but that translates into 10,000 or more incorrect orders every month in the flooring industry. There is a way to virtually end these types of errors. Using industry specific software that follows the fcB2B standards.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Not only will your business virtually eliminate communication errors with your suppliers that are also using fcB2B compliant software, your business will be able to manage inventory more efficiently, cut the cost of paperwork, see an increase in staff productivity, and enjoy tighter cash flow management just to name a few of the many improvements.

Contractors

Commercial software is engineered to integrate the sales, operations, and accounting departments of a flooring contractor into a single solution. Projects, bids, and job files are recorded. Once transactions are sent to the vendor, software requires a unique a username and password for each dealer. Commercial software acknowledges your negotiated pricing, and any special instructions.

Suppliers

The savings are clear. Past research by the WFCA and the Floor Covering Business to Business Association (fcB2B) found that a manufacturer or distributor who can completely transition their business from fully manual to fully automated using fcB2B can save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year if not even more. This is made up of time savings, allowing them to put those people who are answering phones, taking orders, printing invoices, mailing checks, etc. into much more productive and revenue producing roles within their companies. Error rates on POs would drop dramatically, which directly translates into less claims. Customer satisfaction also typically increases significantly, as you and your people can see their orders real time in your system.

One last thing for the manufacturers out there. Consider incentivizing your retailers to do business using fcB2B. It would be a win-win for the industry. Order entry error claims would go down, order speed would go up, and the cost to process orders will drop. There are tens of millions of dollars of savings out there for the industry, they are real, help unleash them!

Distributors

Distribution: Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Savings.

You can categorize the Distribution business a lot of ways, but they are in the unique position of being in the middle of it all. Manufacturers make and sell their products, and retailers buy products, but all those distributors that keep our flooring industry happy and healthy are getting it from both directions. They have products coming in from manufacturers, and they also have products outgoing to retailers. Being in this position, distributors have the largest opportunity for streamlining their businesses via fcB2B automation.

Software Vendors

Commerce has gone electronic. And why? Because it saves time and money. When will you? One practice that is gaining popularity in our industry is B2B, which means “electronic commerce between businesses”. The key word in that definition is electronic.

What electronic business are we talking about? For flooring, there are three major categories:

  • Product Catalogs, which behind the scenes are often referred to as an 832, are the electronic files sent by manufacturers or distributors to their dealers showing all the specific information about every product they sell, including style names, style numbers, colors, prices, and units of measure. That Product Catalog serves as the starting point for all transactions.
  • Purchase Orders, or an 850, are electronic files sent from the purchaser to the distributor or manufacturer, listing the exact products, colors, and quantities being ordered. Because these are submitted electronically, you get the benefit of an electronic Purchase Order Acknowledgement, which quickly tells you your order has been received and accepted. Some suppliers are able to send these automatically in a matter of seconds, while some still manually look at each one before a response is sent.
  • Invoices, or 810s, are then sent electronically to the dealers, where most use industry specific software to match the Invoice to their Purchase Order and receipt inspection. This is often referred to as a three-way match.

It’s the 21st Century, and this can all be done without a single piece of paper being created, or a single phone call being made. But surprisingly, with all the technology available to us today, most transactions today are still being done the old fashioned and expensive way. It is no surprise then that more and more flooring manufacturers, distributors, and dealers are realizing that in order to stay competitive they need to work smarter, not harder. Those businesses are eliminating the paper, avoiding having to pick up the phone to call in orders, and are conducting business completely electronically

Trade Groups

It’s unusual for technology to just happen on its own, it needs a sponsor, a driver, a mentor, someone who sees and understands the huge benefit it provides, someone who can define what the end state looks like, and then is just consistent and stubborn enough to insist that it happens. That is not as difficult as you might think.

Change is challenging, and ultimately change is rewarding. And as eCommerce is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives, not being able to do business electronically will look so unusual it will cause you to lose business. Do you really want your members to be that business?

For every supplier you deal with, if you want them to do business with you electronically using fcB2B, every time you see someone from that business, ask them when it is going to happen. The more they hear it from their customers, the quicker they will get on board.

Our members say…

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