ADVERTORIAL SUSTAINABILITY Online procurement doesn’t have to be a headache This month Derrick Herbert , Website Manager at Fixfast , explores online purchasing in the B2B environment, and why you should choose Fixfast.com for your procurement needs. O rdering online – ah, the joys. Incredibly convenient, timesaving, and all the products you could possibly want to consider (too many?) at your fingertips. It’s a small element of our lives that’s become normal, especially over the last 5 years. But at work, it can be a different story. Suppliers can have outdated websites with confusing menus to navigate, an ‘enquire to order’ button for a seemingly straightforward product purchase (if at all), and multiple hurdles to jump just to register for an account. If in desperation you try the live chat, you’ll be answered by a glitchy AI bot that spits out scripted and irrelevant answers to your simple pleas for help. We’ve all been there – it’s frustrating and a waste of your time. However, it’s now 2025. And the worrying truth is that this is still the ‘norm’ for a wide swathe of B2B suppliers online. Thankfully, it’s not all gloom and doom. There are B2B companies that have designed websites and online portals around specific customer needs, but then the question arises: which one does the job the easiest? And that’s exactly why 5+ years ago now, we set out to build our website around what our customers genuinely want. When it comes to the online ordering space, the truth is that for suppliers, their competitors aren’t who they may traditionally think they are – instead, they’re up against Amazon and other online giants who have mastered the customer experience online. The secret is providing choice for the user. That means if you want to pick up the phone and order with us, you can. But if you’d prefer to order online quickly and without fuss, you can. It’s what suits you and makes your working life easier. So while you’re choosing which supplier best suits your needs, here’s why you should consider purchasing through Fixfast.com for your building envelope fasteners and components. Simplify O&M And when you get to the end of a project, there’s no need to worry about O&M manual documentation. Simply download datasheets and relevant documentation for all products ordered by clicking one button -watch while a packaged zipped file downloads ready to include with your O&M manual. Quote faster When you need instant pricing, you can access your special pricing by simply logging in and navigating to the product you need a price for. With our ‘Quick Quote’, you can download a PDF instantly from the Cart page, which is then saved safely in your account area with your own unique reference for minimum fuss record keeping. Zero bots. Period. AI live chatbots might be clever, but they’re not as human as a real human. If you need to talk to someone at any point, be assured that our live chat will connect you instantly to one of our friendly experts – Monday to Friday 8am-5pm, we have a team ready to help you out, whatever your query. 5 clicks to checkout Ordering online can be as fast as you need it to be. Take time out of the equation by adding products to your cart directly from category pages, instead of visiting individual product pages every time. “User-friendly to the core” Giving you total control over what you need from us was how it started – and how it’s stayed -your feedback will always form the centre of our continuing efforts to stay at the forefront of online ordering in Construction. We actively encourage feedback on how our website performs – so if you’ve used Fixfast.com and have improvements to offer, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. And for anyone who hasn’t used our website before, take a look. Test us out. Ultimately, whether we’ve created the industry’s best online ordering portal is your decision, but we like to think we’ve brought a sprinkling of B2C online experience to B2B construction. w www.fixfast.com Stay organised Within your account area, you can keep track of specific orders, invoices, deliveries and favourite products – by project. Reorder directly from previous orders quickly and without hassle or the need to dig out previous POs from the depths of your filing system. You can see the status of all your orders, including anything ordered offline (email or phone), and whether they’ve been delivered and invoiced. You’re in control If you’re the account administrator, you can set levels of permissions to determine what each user can view and do in your account area. Set permissions for individual users or for a group – and change them whenever you need. 16 www.rcimag.co.uk March 2025
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