Supplier Conundrum

[nick_purslow7]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on a website centred around self-build garden rooms. The aim is to provide lots of resources on building them, finding the best suppliers, etc.

I'm looking at listing lots of independent suppliers of frames, roofing, flooring, etc, on the site, with the view to taking a commission for any orders that are made on the site. Preferably, all orders will go through the website in a shopping basket format, with payments automatically being sent (minus commission) to the suppliers whose products have been bought. The suppliers will then deal with the customer and ship the order.

The problem I'm having is figuring out a system of doing this. I've looked into dropshipping, but that seems to be for dealing with a narrow range of goods from a large wholesaler, whereas this would be a wide range of goods from a wide range of invidiual suppliers. I could take orders and then manually send invoices to the suppliers, but that's obviously nowhere near efficient.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[fisicx]

The problem you have is each supplier will have their own way of processing orders. The normal way of automating this is to integrate their API into your system. Decent e-commerce platform will be able to work with multiple APIs. The only thing you will need is a bucket of cash to get this developed.

 

[nick_purslow7]

The problem you have is each supplier will have their own way of processing orders. The normal way of automating this is to integrate their API into your system. Decent e-commerce platform will be able to work with multiple APIs. The only thing you will need is a bucket of cash to get this developed.

Thank you for your reply.

We're trying to avoid needing a bucket of cash, so that one might be out of the question!

Do you have any thoughts on the viability of taking orders on our site, triggering an email to be sent to the chosen supplier with order details and amount owed? Then either a manual or automated payment to that supplier, minus the commission.

 

[mattk]

Instead of taking orders, why not sign up as an affiliate on the sites who's products you want to sell?

 

[fisicx]

Do you have any thoughts on the viability of taking orders on our site, triggering an email to be sent to the chosen supplier with order details and amount owed? Then either a manual or automated payment to that supplier, minus the commission.

Depends on the supplier. Sending them an email means they have to manually process the order. If they have a fully automated system they may not be able to process the email. Others may be quite happy with an email but want it in a specific format. The only way to know is to ask them.

I doubt you can do what you want without considerable financial investment. The website itself is going to be complicated as you will need data from each supplier regarding stock levels. No point in listing a widget on your site from ABC if ABC sold out yesterday.

Also worth noting that I will be placing an order with you. If there is a problem I will be contacting you not the supplier.

It's a great idea but not sure you can do it on the cheap.

 

[nick_purslow7]

Instead of taking orders, why not sign up as an affiliate on the sites who's products you want to sell?

Thanks for the suggestion.

I've just google 'flooring affiliate' and there seems to be a lot of options. I didn't realise affiliate programmes were a done thing in that industry.

I'm not sure whether the markets for other materials, such as fascias, frames and foundations, would be as sophisticated though. Perhaps it might be a case of creating a bespoke affiliate programme for those guys.

The ultimate aim would be to be able to order everything on our site, but something like you suggest might prove to be a viable stop gap.

 

[Paul Norman]

I think you are faced with basically two choices.

If you don't currently have money to invest, it is going to be largely a manual and clunky process.

If you can find it, automated solutions abound, and are not that complex. Or even that expensive, actually, although that is a subjective thing.

Most suppliers will be about to accommodate an API. Some will take an email. A system behind your website could accommodate both, and provide some automated follow up too.

I suppose the next question is what you anticipated volumes might be. If it's 5 builds a month, handling all that manually is not that much of a chore. If it's 50, you need to invest in the systems.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Also worth noting that I will be placing an order with you. If there is a problem I will be contacting you not the supplier.

Yep - you will be responsible for the products as the customer is paying you for it, not your supplier. If something goes wrong they have no contractual relationship with the supplier so they will come after you.

This will lead to a higher insurance premium cost, as your insurer will need to deal with any Product Liability claims against you. Yes, your insurers will then try and pursue your supplier, but they will still incur legal costs in dealing with the claim and there is no guarantee of successfully pursuing the supplier! You will also need to ensure any suppliers have their own insurance policies in place, which you need to check and keep a record of.

 

[nick_purslow7]

I think you are faced with basically two choices.

If you don't currently have money to invest, it is going to be largely a manual and clunky process.

If you can find it, automated solutions abound, and are not that complex. Or even that expensive, actually, although that is a subjective thing.

Most suppliers will be about to accommodate an API. Some will take an email. A system behind your website could accommodate both, and provide some automated follow up too.

I suppose the next question is what you anticipated volumes might be. If it's 5 builds a month, handling all that manually is not that much of a chore. If it's 50, you need to invest in the systems.

Appreciate the advice. My current thinking is we either start manually or use affiliate links to our suppliers' websites (allowing them to take the orders). That would be the minimum viable product, and in the meantime we build an automated system to smoothen out the process in the long run.

 

[WaveJumper]

I am not sure I really get this idea. If I was looking to build a garden space office or summer house I can google and find plenty of information not only on how to build a structure but videos, even plans this is obviously without the many sites selling them in kit form. How many links to products are you going to have, my first reaction as a buyer is once I have seen what’s on or available on your site is to start searching around for the materials at a much better price. So what is going to be your USP that stops me from doing this

 

[antropy]

As above, you need to become an affiliate of various suppliers that you list on your site but then of course you'll run in to the problem of not being impartial because not many companies seem to do affiliate schemes anymore.

Paul.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Also worth noting that I will be placing an order with you. If there is a problem I will be contacting you not the supplier.

To expand on this, don't under-estimate the risks of distance-selling products from multiple suppliers, @nick_purslow7

Customer buys walls, roof, glazing, and fixings from you, to be supplied by four independent companies. When a piece of glass doesn't fit a wall, or the pack of fixings doesn't arrive, the customer cannot complete their build so rejects the whole order; some of which is half-built in their garden...

Would it be better to provide a complete design, supply and build service instead?

 

[IanSuth]

To expand on this, don't under-estimate the risks of distance-selling products from multiple suppliers, @nick_purslow7

Customer buys walls, roof, glazing, and fixings from you, to be supplied by four independent companies. When a piece of glass doesn't fit a wall, or the pack of fixings doesn't arrive, the customer cannot complete their build so rejects the whole order; some of which is half-built in their garden...

Would it be better to provide a complete design, supply and build service instead?

I was going to say this and remember there is a HUGE difference in the legal status of Business to business (you to supplier) trades vs Business to consumer trades.

I think the warranty will lie with you if the consumer is purchasing as a job lot from you, you will end up responsible if as was said above an entire build using materials from 4 other suppliers is rejected due to issues with a 5th. A decent garden room is not cheap so those are some big possible liabilities you have to cover

 

[mattk]

The utimate aim would be to be able to order everything on our site, but something like you suggest might prove to be a viable stop gap.

Have you asked these suppliers if they are happy for a third party (you) to sell their products directly in your site?