A new online procurement platform aims to connect small businesses with the service providers that they need, and that will include print.
Buynex is the brainchild of Andrew McNair who has extensive background in sourcing packaging for high street retail businesses including JD Sports. That experience including dealing with existing procurement platforms that he describes as “expensive to run, slow to implement and often require weeks of training”. For small businesses without the necessary resources this creates a barrier. Instead he explains: “Buynex is designed to work in a way that mirrors how smaller businesses actually operate. The goal was to level the playing field, removing unnecessary complexity and gives teams a practical way to manage procurement without heavy licenses or specialist support.”
The aim is to connect the buyers with qualified suppliers, giving those suppliers access to customers that they would normally find it difficult to reach. A return to concepts from the formative days of the world wide web.
McNair has secured backing from a former CEO of JD Sports, Peter Cowgill, who has backed a number of start up ventures in recent times.
The software is hosted in the cloud behind a web portal that offers collections for specific types of business and occasion. Thus there is a collection of items deemed essential to running a hospitality business, recyclable coffee cups, packaging for food, drinking straws and so on.
The gifting and events collection includes a selection of pop up banners and selfie frames. Stationery items also feature heavily. The products offered will increase over time, with suppliers appointed to provide one product encouraged to suggest other relevant items for inclusion.
The task for McNair now is to locate and qualify potential suppliers. The target is to onboard 20-25 companies over the next six weeks so that buyers have a broad selection of products from the launch date.
There is no upfront payment for businesses to become part of the network. The revenue model is built on taking a percentage of the sale value.
Aside from providing the platform and software the role for Buynex is to audit and accredit those wanting to join the platform. There will be continual monitoring of suppliers. Any that fail to meet Buynex’s standards will be removed from the platform, it promises.
