I had the pleasure of attending the BMF Technology Winter Forum at the BMF head office in Coventry on Feb 11th. It was a very informative event with great speakers, excellent content, and well organised. There were some very good conversations before, during, and after the event. John Newcomb, CEO of BMF, kicked off the …
There’s a moment most operations managers in wholesale distribution know well. It’s 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. Three order emails came in during lunch. One has an attachment with a half-filled spreadsheet. Another is a reply to a reply to a reply, somewhere deep in a thread from Tuesday. The third just says “same as …
Read more “Still Taking Orders by Email? Here’s What It’s Costing Mid‑Sized Wholesale”
Most wholesalers recognise the moment. You’ve outgrown spreadsheets and phone orders. Your buyers expect a digital experience. You start exploring the market, and quickly realise nothing quite fits. Consumer-first platforms feel too lightweight for the operational complexity you manage every day. Enterprise solutions look powerful, but come with costs, timelines, and internal requirements that simply …
Read more “What B2B Commerce Platform Works for Mid-Market Wholesalers?”
There is a meeting that happens in mid-market distribution businesses with almost predictable regularity. The ERP vendor, or sometimes the internal IT lead, walks in with a slide deck. It shows a web portal module sitting neatly on top of the existing ERP. It promises online ordering, account self-service, and a reduction in inbound calls …
Read more “ERP Limitations for B2B eCommerce: Why Your Back-Office System Can’t Face Your Buyers”
The UK wholesale sector is under a kind of pressure it has never quite felt before. Margins were always thin. Volatility was always present. But the combination of post-pandemic supply disruption, retail consolidation and rising operational complexity has created a different kind of challenge, one that now sits inside the business, not just outside it. …
Read more “Why Mid-Market B2B Commerce Can No Longer Afford Manual Wholesale Operations”