New buying group reaches 36 members

A new buying group, formed in April to assist the smaller builder and timber merchants to compete against their larger national and regional independent competitors, now has 36 merchant members.

Independent Buying Company is currently focused on merchants with a turnover of between £2m and £10m a year in and around the London area, though the group is happy to receive membership interest on a national basis and from merchants who are larger.

Unlike other buying groups, IBC members do not get involved with the day-to-day running of the group, nor negotiating the deals. That’s the responsibility of managing director Vic Patel, who set the group up, and procurement director Mike Hillier.

“There are a lot of smaller merchant companies in this market who are not currently members of any buying group, yet who would benefit from being able to negotiate better deals,” Hillier told buildersmerchantsjournal.net.

“Members do not need to get involved in purchasing committees or have to attend

any meetings to discuss strategy or business development. IBC are focused on

bringing buying deals to the members and increasing the size of the group to

ensure that the additional volumes continue to improve the deals available.

There are no member fees. The cost of running IBC is focused only on member

development and improved purchasing.”