Merchant services continue to be an integral part of the service offering CHIC provides to its members. Since the current framework went live in 2019, it has grown in both the number of contracts trading and the number of new enquiries received. Much of this is down to the level of expert support provided through the Merchant and Supply Chain Management Team, supplemented with the comprehensive level of reporting CHIC can now provide to its members.

The framework includes 4 separate Lots (separated for England and Wales)

• Lot 1:     Plumbing
• Lot 2:     Electrical
• Lot 3:     General Building (Optional Plumbing and Electrical)
• Lot 4:     Managed Stores (Optional Plumbing and Electrical)

Where a direct award is required, CHIC works with each individual member to develop the business case, to test if a direct award is justifiable, based upon a range of relevant criteria, which are set out in the Framework Agreement. Where a mini competition is preferred, CHIC has developed and can adapt a suite of standard documents to suit the individual requirements of its members.

MERCHANT DPS

In 2021, CHIC identified that some of our members required a more dynamic Merchant solution, that allowed them to engage with and catalogue manage more specialised local suppliers. In order to support this, a new Merchant DPS was set up with a Lot structure designed to attract more specialist suppliers. The DPS enables CHIC to target local suppliers in the following categories:

• Plumbing
• Plumbing & Heating (Specialist Sanitary Ware)
• Electrical (Specialist M&E equipment)
• General Electrical
• General Builders
• General Builder (one-stop-shop)
• Managed Stores
• Flooring
• Roofing
• Ironmongery
• Glazing
• Timber
• Tiles
• Painting & Decorating

MERCHANT REPORTS

CHIC manages a comprehensive price catalogue for each merchant, to offer members volume discounts and benchmarked value for money on all the materials and parts most commonly used for responsive repairs and planned investment works. CHIC reviews manufacturers and suppliers prices regularly to keep members in touch with the latest top products and cost trends.

Each month, CHIC’s members using this managed merchants framework will receive a detailed analysis of spend with tips on more cost-effective products and options to help stay within budget.

CHIC’s approach helps members to increase the productivity of repairs teams, adding frequently used items to van stocks, to increase the number of jobs each operative can complete in a working day. Time saved on travelling to and from the store increases efficiency and reduces cost. Monthly management information helps to add regularly purchased items to van stocks, to increase the number of jobs an operative can complete in a working day.

Receiving a monthly merchant report allows members to:

• Ensure that reports provided by merchants are representative of the services they receive.
• Ensure that pricing levels are respected and that any overcharges can be recovered in a timely manner.
• Ensure that a communication line is always maintained with manufacturers in order to support planned and responsive maintenance programmes.

The Merchant Report allows members to analyse keys sets of data to highlight key savings opportunities and better manage spend. Key information includes:

• Spend breakdown
• Price Compliance & Credits
• Catalogue Spend
• Savings
• Operative Spend behaviour
• Supplier KPIs'

If you would like to find out more about CHIC’s Merchant Services, please get in touch with our Head of Merchant Services Giles Newman gnewman@chicltd.co.uk