Trade buyers aren’t browsing your website for fun. They’re under pressure. Quoting jobs. Checking specs. Finding alternatives. Downloading datasheets. Often after hours, when no one’s picking up the phone.
If your website can’t deliver the information they need—fast and reliably—you’re not just missing a sales opportunity. You’re frustrating the exact customers you want to keep.
So, ask yourself: does your site actually work for trade buyers? Or is it just a digital brochure?
Whether they’re builders, estimators, project managers, or procurement leads, trade customers need far more than a product name and a price. They’re often looking for detailed technical specifications—dimensions, load ratings, material grades—and they expect pack sizes, coverage calculators, and downloadable resources like datasheets, safety data sheets, or compliance certificates.
They also rely on up-to-date availability and clear stock location information. In many cases, they’re searching for compatible accessories or acceptable alternatives. And they need to be able to filter and search in ways that match how they think—terms like “external use,” “fire rated,” or “Class B strength” need to be built into the experience. If your site buries this information in PDFs or hard-to-navigate pages, you’re making their job significantly harder.
The reality is, many websites in the building supplies space are built around internal systems—not customer needs. That means placeholder content pulled from ERP systems, incomplete attribute data where crucial spec fields are simply missing, and no product relationships to help users find matching adhesives, fixings, or other relevant accessories.
Too often, downloadable documents like datasheets or compliance certificates are missing—or worse, outdated, with versions from 2019 still live on your product pages. Trade buyers are making decisions based on this information. If they can’t find what they need—or if the data is inaccurate—they won’t hesitate to look elsewhere.
You don’t need flashy features like animations, video carousels, or AI chatbots. What you do need is clear, searchable, accurate, and complete product content. That means clean, structured attribute data for each category, a consistent approach to uploading specs, pack information, and supporting documents, and strong internal processes around who owns and maintains that data.
It also means using tools that allow you to scale and maintain quality at the same time—whether that’s a spreadsheet, a PIM, or another product data system. This is the essential groundwork that makes your site functional and trustworthy for trade buyers.
One distributor summed it up perfectly: “Our customers do their job pricing at night. If the data isn’t there, we don’t get the order in the morning.”
That’s the reality. Your website isn’t just a digital catalogue—it’s a 24/7 salesperson. Trade buyers are checking it when the branch is closed, when the sales rep is unavailable, and when they’re racing against a tight deadline. If your product content isn’t ready when they are, you’re not even in the running.
Worried your site isn’t giving trade buyers what they need?
We help distributors and suppliers build structured product content that turns passive product listings into confident orders.