Building distribution

A Network of Brands and Experts 

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution is now Europe’s N°1 building materials merchant. Its aim is to be THE Reference of the building trade for its customers and its suppliers. To achieve this goal, it has established a network of strong and complementary, generalist or specialist, brands targeting trades people, private project owners, and small, medium and large companies.

Rooted in its local market, each brand is uniquely positioned to meet the specific needs of each customer and market, backed by their dynamic, expert teams who are a valuable strength and the reason for their success.

The Sector includes the following generalist brands geared to professionals: POINT.P Matériaux de Construction in France, Jewson in the United Kingdom, Raab Karcher in Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe, as well as Optimera in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Specialist brands round out the Sector’s expertise in a wide variety of areas, including plumbing-heating-sanitaryware, timber-panels, interior solutions, roofing, civil engineering, tiles and LBM. Examples include Dahl in the Nordic countries, International Timber in the United Kingdom, SFIC in France and Belgium, and Keramundo in Germany.

Finally, certain brands, such as Lapeyre in France and Telhanorte in Brazil, also sell to household consumers.

Customer-focused innovation

Innovative services underscore the added valued provided each day by the men and women who work for the Building Distribution Sector.

The brands develop new sales concepts and new tools to assist their customers meet the challenges of energy efficiency. The Building Distribution Sector also forms partnerships with experts to improve building companies and trade people’s theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills through training sessions.

Logistics is another area of added value. The aim is to provide the best solutions to improve efficiency and product availability. They include: onboard IT systems in trucks to coordinate all transportation steps and establish geolocation, an SMS service to confirm customer delivery, automated logistics centers and inventory management based on a coordinated product reordering system.

The Building Distribution Sector’s capacity for innovation is also reflected in its acquisition of new markets and customers. Some brands sell habitat-related home-automation solutions to professionals. They clearly position themselves as home-automation specialists and promote their commitment to working with their customers towards new safety, energy management and energy savings markets.

Other brands have opened up to new segments, such as seniors and accessibility by developing a specific product offer, ISA^® (Independence for Seniors and Accessibility) launched by Lapeyre, or the city center market by opening up sales outlets to build a new customer base and work more closely with their existing customers.

Finally, because it is attuned to its customers’ emerging needs, the Building Distribution Sector has continued to develop its online strategy based on a triple approach. First, “profiling,” which involves sending out personalized information about products and services to each customer who visits the brands’ websites. The second covers many services geared to smartphones: product supply and availability, personalized prices, accounts and ordering available 24/7, advice and tools. The third reflects the “multichannel” offering. Customers can access products and services on the brands’ E-commerce websites but also in their bricks and mortar sales outlets, call centers, social media, and paper or online catalogues.

Point. P Matériaux de Construction uprgades its mobile app

POINT.P has launched a new version of its mobile app. Practical and easy to use, it has been redesigned and new functions added.

Jewson account management service

Jewson has responded to customer demand by creating an account management service on its website.

Lapeyre and the accessibility market

In France, Lapeyre has been developing its ISA^® offering since 2011 for the Independence of Seniors and Accessibility market.

Langhus, Dahl's new logistics platform in Norway

Brødrene Dahl Norway has invested heavily to expand and upgrade its Langhus logistics center.

Point. P Matériaux de Construction energy efficiency counters

In France, to help customers understand the details of the 2012 Thermal Regulations applicable to all new construction and renovations, POINT.P Matériaux de Construction has created Expert Energy Efficiency Counters in more than 120 sales across its network.

Discover the Building Distribution Sector 2017 Mini-Book

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