insights | 03.10.2025

Making the move from brick-and-mortar depots to eCommerce

Article Topics

Why consider eCommerce?
How to make the move to eCommerce as pain-free as possible
Choose the right eCommerce platform
Decide what you want to sell online
Organise your inventory
Understand delivery fulfilment
Plan your marketing strategy

You’ve got a thriving network of builders’ merchants stores and depots, with a regular flow of customers, both domestic and trade, buying your products.

However, you’ve also got an overbearing urge to develop and grow your business even further.

Moving to an eCommerce model and allowing customers to buy your products online could be a smart move.

Keep reading to discover what you need to bear in mind to see success, and how Xigen can help you build a website that exceeds your customers’ expectations.

Why consider eCommerce?

Moving to an online sales model can feel like a lot of hard work and effort, especially if you’ve been selling offline for several years!

However, 60% of tradespeople say they buy supplies both in-store and offline, meaning that if you’ve not got an online sales presence, you could be missing out.

If you’re still on the fence as a business, here are some of the reasons why you should think about eCommerce:

You can sell anywhere. With a brick-and-mortar store, you’re limited to a small radius of prospective customers. However, with an eCommerce store, you can sell to people outside of your store’s geographic remit – across the UK… maybe even the world
You can sell around the clock. Customers can browse your products outside of store opening hours, wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them. In fact, over 60% of tradespeople say that convenience is the main reason they buy online.
It’s easier (and cheaper) to scale. If you wanted to build another brick-and-mortar store, you’d need to purchase or rent a new location and hire new staff. With an online store, you just need to make more products available
You get more customer data. A website provides a wealth of tangible data, meaning you can see which customers are buying your products, what time of day they’re buying them, and in what combination. This makes it easy to make data-driven decisions that improve sales, both online and offline

How to make the move to eCommerce as pain-free as possible

So, you’ve done your market research, spoken to your customers, and checked out the competition – and decided that establishing an online presence is the right choice.

The big question is, how do you go about it?

One in five construction supply businesses worry that they are falling behind when it comes to digital transformation, with 5% admitting that they haven’t even started.

Here are five things to bear in mind when setting up an eCommerce store for your builders’ merchants, in order to get the best results.

1. Choose the right eCommerce platform

There are a lot of different eCommerce platforms out there with different features and pricing plans. Choosing the right one for your business needs can guide the success of your builders’ merchants store.

While some larger chains of builders’ merchants may have their own bespoke eCommerce system, there are plenty of off-the-shelf platforms to get you started.

eCommerce platforms can typically be split into two different types:

Self-hosted platforms. These platforms are installed on your own web server. While they give you more control over how your eCommerce store looks and functions, they can be harder to maintain. Examples of self-hosted platforms include WordPress/WooCommerce, Prestashop, and Magento
Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms. These platforms are cloud-based, providing you with everything you need to manage your eCommerce store for a monthly or annual fee. While they’re easier to manage, they have less flexibility. Examples of SaaS platforms include Shopify, Squarespace, and BigCommerce

Find out more about some of the eCommerce platforms available, and download your free cheat sheet.

You may think that you also need a mobile app for your builders’ merchants store, but the truth is, you don’t! A mobile-responsive site will be enough to keep your customers happy, and will mean less development time is needed to go live.

When thinking about which eCommerce platform is right for your business, ask yourself the following questions:

What features are important to you? Think about what is essential and what is nice to have
Where do you see your business in the future? This will help you identify a platform that will scale with you as you grow
What is your budget? Bear in mind that while most self-hosted tools are free to download, you still need to pay for hosting, development, and any extensions or themes you want to use

Top tip: If you’re not sure where to begin with an eCommerce platform, or you want to test the waters before committing to a website, a marketplace like Amazon or eBay may be a good starting point.

These platforms host your products for you and allow you to sell for a small fee. Some marketplaces even handle delivery and returns for you, saving you time and resources.

Of course, the downside of marketplaces is that there’s more competition, and it can be harder to establish direct relationships with customers.

2. Decide what you want to sell online

As a builders’ merchant, chances are that you sell hundreds, if not thousands, of different products in your stores.

The good news is that you don’t have to offer all your products on your eCommerce store. This can make getting online a lot easier and save you a lot of administrative headaches.

For example, you may opt not to sell age-restricted products like knives, spray paint, or paint stripper on your website in order to avoid breaking the law.

Alternatively, you may prefer not to sell heavy, fragile, or awkwardly-shaped products as these would be harder and more expensive to send out to shoppers.

One of the best ways to determine the selection of products you sell online? See what your competitors sell in their online stores. If there’s a gap in the market, you can bridge it.

Top tip: If you want to sell overseas, you also need to consider the rules and regulations other countries have in place.

For example, if you plan to sell to EU countries, you need to submit electronic import declarations to customs, and you are also subject to the VAT rules of the relevant country.

3. Organise your inventory

There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than visiting your website only to find the product they want is out of stock.

82% of UK customers have experienced an item they want online being unavailable, with 27% saying they would question their loyalty to a business if they regularly experienced stockouts.

Good inventory management means less chance of running out of products online, as well as in your store. Many eCommerce systems allow you to integrate inventory tracking and centralise your inventory, so you always know how much of each item you have available.

Top tip: You can also implement specific features to help customers if the item they want isn’t available on your website.

For example, recommending alternative products or notifying customers when the product they need is back in stock.

4. Understand delivery fulfilment

As part of your eCommerce store offering, you will need to send orders out to customers. To provide an exceptional customer experience, deliveries must be sent relatively quickly and not be overly expensive.

A staggering 85% of online shoppers say that a poor delivery experience will stop them from ordering from a specific retailer.

Here are some questions to bear in mind to ensure you exceed customers’ expectations:

Think about the delivery partners you will use. If customers are local, you can consider delivering products yourself
Decide what delivery will cost. Will you offer a flat rate, base delivery costs on weight, or offer free delivery if customers spend a certain amount?
Determine your delivery options. For example, as well as standard delivery, you may choose to offer express or next-day delivery
Implement delivery updates so customers know when to expect their order
Consider how you will handle returns and exchanges. For example, will you charge a fee for returns, or allow customers to bring products back to your brick-and-mortar store?

Don’t forget to clearly promote your delivery and returns policies on your new website. This not only keeps customers informed but also protects you if there are any issues or complaints.

Top tip: Offering click and collect can provide the best of both worlds – customers can browse your products online, and pick them up from your store at a time that’s convenient for them. Plus, it means you don’t have to worry about arranging delivery.

Click and collect now accounts for nearly one in five eCommerce sales.

5. Plan your marketing strategy

It pays to create a marketing strategy to promote your eCommerce website before it goes live. This will give you time to understand what you want to accomplish from your new online store and the specific goals you will try to achieve.

Start by understanding your target audience – the customers most likely to buy from your online store. Bear in mind that this target audience may be different to the one that buys from your brick-and-mortar store!

You can then identify the best marketing channels to use, including search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email marketing, and social media.

Here’s an interesting fact about using social media: Did you know that 20% of people have gained inspiration from social media to buy DIY or garden products?

Top tip: It’s essential to consider the omnichannel experience – you want to offer a seamless, consistent, and positive experience whether customers buy in store or online.

Linking your customer relationship management (CRM) to your website can help you understand all the different ways customers interact with your business.

ng your AOV. This will help you work out if what you’re offering is persuading shoppers to fill their baskets.

Xigen: Your partner in making the move to digital

Creating a high-quality eCommerce site doesn’t just increase your revenue – it boosts brand awareness and enhances the customer experience, meaning customers are more likely to stay loyal to your business.

Let us leave you with one final tip – regularly ask your customers and site visitors for feedback. This will help you see what elements of your website they love, and if they chose not to buy, why this is the case.

With twenty years of experience helping builders’ merchants and construction supply businesses get online, we’re ready to help you make the next step in your business’s journey. Get in touch today, and let’s work together to transform how customers buy from you.