NEWS EXTRA
create layers of administration or build another organisation around it. We want the collaboration to be practical, agile and focused on creating value.”
Procurement teams across all three businesses are now working together to identify where collaboration makes sense – and, equally importantly, where it doesn’t.
“There will be areas where working together creates genuine opportunities and others where it simply won’t make sense,” Wright says.
“The important thing is that we’re selective. This isn’t about trying to put everything through the Alliance. It’s about identifying the right opportunities and then working together to make the most of them.”
All three businesses are also careful to emphasise that the Alliance wasn’t born out of dissatisfaction with buying groups. Quite the opposite.
“We’ve all been successful within buying groups,” Young says. “They’ve played an incredibly important role in helping independent merchants like us compete, and we’ve benefited hugely from playing our part in that arena. This is about creating something different that works for our businesses and for those suppliers who want to work with us in this way.”
Nor is it about every product sector. Bradfords, for example, remains a member of PHG, through which its plumbing and heating procurement will continue. Lords CEO Shanker Patel says the selective nature of the Alliance is fundamental to the concept. “There is no intention to purchase everything through the Alliance. We will work together
only where there is value for all sides.
“We have worked hard to create a pro-competitive Alliance that has openness, honesty, fairness and efficiency at the heart of it. With operating costs increasing for all parts of the industry, we must look at innovative ways of buying and selling better. This is an exciting time, and we look forward to sharing our vision with like-minded partners.”
That last point – value for all sides – is important.
The Alliance’s ambitions are not simply about buying products for less. The three businesses believe there is a wider opportunity to work with suppliers on growth, efficiency, product development, service and long-term commercial partnerships.
Young says: “Of course we want to buy well, but we also want to sell well. We want suppliers who are prepared to invest in our businesses, help train our people, support branch teams, develop products and grow categories.
“We want to create relationships where, when we make a decision together, everybody is committed to making it successful.”
This is where the procurement teams within the three businesses will increasingly come to the fore. The teams at Bradfords, JT Atkinson and Lords are already working together to assess opportunities and bring their collective category knowledge, supplier relationships and market experience to the Alliance. Speaking to the procurement leads across the three businesses, it’s clear they hold a common view that bringing the teams together creates opportunities
beyond simply combining purchasing scale.
Ian Scrimshaw, head of procurement at Lords, says: “For me, the real benefit of the Alliance is bringing together like-minded independent businesses with a shared ambition to improve and grow. We each bring different knowledge, experience and perspectives and by working together we can identify opportunities that may not be achievable individually, while retaining the independence that makes each business successful.” Richard Buck, commercial director at Bradfords, adds: “The real value comes from bringing together a broader range of industry knowledge, category expertise and supplier insight, while allowing each business to retain its own strengths. It’s about identifying the right opportunities and working collaboratively to make them successful.”
At JT Atkinson, head of category Ben Cave says: “We have a lot of crossover in our supply chains, but also different strengths and perspectives across the category teams. We’re already identifying opportunities to improve and grow existing categories, as well
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as exploring new opportunities that can strengthen our offer to customers and create value for suppliers.”
For the three businesses, the next phase is therefore less about defining what the Alliance is and more about demonstrating what it can achieve.
Atkinson says the principles established at the outset will remain important as that work develops. “We are three independent businesses and that isn’t changing. What we have created gives us the opportunity to combine our strengths where it makes sense, while retaining the independence, agility and relationships that have helped make each of our businesses successful.”
The ultimate aim is straightforward: stronger partnerships, stronger businesses and better outcomes for suppliers and customers.
As Wright says: “Ultimately, we’ll judge this on what it delivers. If we can identify the right opportunities, work collaboratively with suppliers, help each other grow and create genuine value for everyone involved, then the Alliance will have achieved exactly what we created it to do.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net September 2026
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