A new online solution to drive productivity for the construction industry

COINS and Science Warehouse have joined forces to enable efficient electronic catalogue-driven trading for construction buyers and suppliers.  Construction Industry Solutions Ltd (COINS), the market leader for construction and house building software, and Science Warehouse Ltd, the leading provider of electronic trading and catalogue management solutions, have today announced a strategic partnership for the delivery of an online industry catalogue to support electronic trading in the construction sector.  Under the terms of the agreement, Science Warehouse’s e-catalogue platform will be integrated with the COINS-etc (Electronic Trading Community) solution.  Science Warehouse will convert and host construction supplier catalogues within an industry-standard category structure.  The COINS eCatalogue Centre will enable COINS customers to seamlessly search supplier’s catalogues online, select items and place orders electronically.

Derek Leaver, COINS Chief Operating Officer comments “The lion’s share of major contractors in the UK are using COINS and over 40 of the industry’s largest suppliers are already signed up to trading electronically with them.  The introduction of the COINS eCatalogue Centre alongside the COINS trading hub makes it easy for buyers to search through various on-line catalogues to find the right products and the best prices and drop the details onto their electronic orders. We see this as the latest phase in efficiency and competitive gains for the parties on both sides of the procurement transaction, and has already been well received by buyers and suppliers.

“Our market research identified Science Warehouse as the best-in-class provider for the advanced catalogue management capability we were looking for.  Science Warehouse clearly led the way with an easy-to-use search facility able to handle large volumes of complex product information, typical of the construction industry. Additionally, Science Warehouse was able to demonstrate a system that matches COINS in robustness and scalability which is essential for our major clients in the construction sector.”

Commenting for Science Warehouse, Dr David Hames, Vice Chairman said, “We are delighted to be working with COINS as the market leader in its sector. Formation of this partnership is a strong endorsement of Science Warehouse and the successful application of our catalogue management capabilities within yet another industry.  Without doubt, the COINS eCatalogue Centre will be the leading solution in this market, offering COINS customers and suppliers increased productivity through more efficient trading supported by essential product information and up-to-date catalogue data.”

COINS is the latest business to adopt a Science Warehouse catalogue management solution.  It joins a growing list of organisations from across the public and private sectors that have recognised the importance of unified, high-quality content in driving productivity increases from e-commerce.