Building & DIY

Freeway has a proud record of supplying EDI and e-commerce solutions to suppliers in the building supplies and construction industry, working with Travis Perkins in particular.

There is a general push by the leading builders and plumbers merchants and buying groups to increase the number of suppliers trading with them electronically, particularly using EDI or in some cases XML.

Freeway is unique in offering solutions to cover the whole range of requirements to suppliers in this sector - not just solutions that cater for one or two of the bigger trading partners. Spectrum is capable of handling both EDI and XML trading in a single solution and there is no need to purchase additional software to handle all requirements. What's more, there is the option of using our low-cost stand-alone solution or integrating with more than 60 different back office packages.

The most common means of trading electronically is via EDI, commonly using TRADACOMS EDI messages for Sales Orders Invoices and Credits, transacted over a traditional VAN (Value Added Network). EDI is usually the preferred method for trading with Travis Perkins, Jewsons, PTS/BSS, City Plumbing Supplies, Wolseley Group and most of the other merchants/wholesalers and buying groups such as NMBS and Unimer.

However, in recent times there have been initiatives, notably by Wolseley Group, to instigate the use of XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) as an alternative to 'traditional' EDI. Due to the flexibility of Spectrum to handle multiple message formats, including XML and EDI, this does not pose a problem. Spectrum takes care of the technical differences, whilst providing the user the same interface for sending and receiving messages that they would have for any other message type or standard.

As many companies also supply the DIY 'sheds', such as Focus (Do-it-all, Great Mills and Wickes), Homebase and B&Q, it also useful to know that the same Spectrum solution supports EDI trading with all of these as well.

Spectrum users include the likes of Polypipe, Eternit, Encon and Saniflo. For a free consultation and proposal please contact Freeway's sales desk on +44 (0)1772 646060 or email

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