WoodScanner – the Who, the What and the Why

WoodScanner is the UK’s only wood comparison marketplace, a simple-to-use platform that allows users to find timber, locate new suppliers, compare stock and prices, check availability and place orders. From a seller’s perspective it opens the door to a wider but very targeted audience with complete flexibility and control over what you list.

“I’ve always liked to do things differently,” says Andy. “Since I first started out, I’ve worked hard to innovate and find new and better ways of doing things, I’m never satisfied with just “how things are.” It’s always been frustrating to lose out on business because you aren’t carrying the right stock, and right from the beginning I always felt there was a place for a service like Woodscanner. It’s just taken a lot of years for the technology to catch up!”

Andy’s inspiration was driven by merchanting experience, and wishing he had a tool like this back then. “I’ll never forget a particular visit to a Buildbase branch in Grimsby, many years ago. There I was, looking over the fence at the docks, where I could clearly see shipments of timber and so on. Not long afterwards, a lorry arrived from Tilbury in Essex, delivering exactly the same timber I could see behind that fence, just metres from the merchants. It made no sense – I knew there had to be a better, more efficient way to manage logistics and supply, to connect the dots of what stock is where, and help people to access it from more local markets.”

WoodScanner does exactly that – it connects the dots of supply and demand. It enables buyers to find available stock at the right price faster and more conveniently and allows sellers to reach a wider but more targeted market simply and directly.

“WoodScanner was never intended as a replacement for merchants,” says Andy. “It’s an additional channel, a digital tool to connect the buy/supply community, creating new partnerships and enabling our selling Partners to deliver an enhanced service for their customers. It helps merchant buyers to find the stock they need conveniently.

It’s that simple.