There were plenty of new programs and partners that were rolled out throughout the week in Indy during the Azione, Oasys, and Ellipsys events. One of the more under-the-radar announcements was related to Nationwide Marketing Group’s eXchange platform, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
eXchange is Nationwide’s proprietary distribution platform, which acts sort of like a mini Amazon portal for the group’s members. When logged in, dealers can browse thousands of SKUs from more than a dozen different distributor partners available through the platform. That means a dealer can shop to see if pricing on, say, a Samsung Frame TV at their preferred distributor is competitive in the marketplace. And then, once they find that item and are ready, they can order it for on-time delivery for the project they’re currently working on.
That’s the platform at its highest level.
New at this show, eXchange rolled out a few advancements geared specifically towards the custom integration audience. Chief among them, a new project builder tool that allows the user to add product from across the platform, along with custom line items, and share the full list with their client in a single proposal.
“We’re always looking for ways to help our members get more out of the eXchange platform,” Randy Derr, director of distribution and eXchange at NMG, told us during the event. “Now 10 years in, we’ve made a number of improvements that’ll help custom integrators leverage this tool in new ways that help them become more efficient as they plan out their next client project.”
For integrators, having a planning tool right in the eXchange platform is all about efficiency of time. Whereas they might have to search various distributor or manufacturer websites to get the latest pricing for a single product—let alone every piece that’ll be installed during a particular project—they can now do that in a single platform on one website, and ensure their client that they are getting the best possible pricing.
The eXchange platform allows for multiple project folders to be worked on concurrently, giving the integrator flexibility to build many project proposals at the same time. A particular proposal can include more than just the line items for product added through eXchange. Custom line items can include things like labor charges, a tariff surcharge (if that’s the route you’re taking at this time), outside product charges—whatever that integrator needs it to be.
“No two projects are ever quite alike, and we wanted this new tool to be as flexible for our members as they sometimes have to be for their clients,” said Derr. “And as they get in there and start using the tool, we’ll continually look for their feedback so we can make it even better.”
The eXchange platform is available as a free tool to members of Nationwide Marketing Group.
