92% of trade sales still happen in-store, according to research from National Buying Group (NBG) and Insider Trends, but nearly every customer journey now starts somewhere else.
For decades, builders’ merchants could rely on loyal customers walking through the door. The trade counter wasn’t just the point of sale, it was the start of the relationship.
But today, something’s changed.
Tradespeople and DIY shoppers still want local service, real advice, and same-day convenience. But the first place they go to find those things is no longer your branches. It’s online.
This shift doesn’t mean the end of the physical branch. But it does mean that visibility, not ecommerce, is the new battleground for growth.
Today's landscape: Local strength, digital weakness
Builders’ merchants have strong foundations. Most already have:
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Well-stocked branches
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Loyal trade customers
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A functional website
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Great people behind the counter
But there’s a disconnect. These physical strengths aren’t translating into online visibility.
According to Valuing Local Independent Trade Merchants in a Digital World, while 92% of trade sales happen in-store, only 22.5% of tradespeople say they buy from independent merchants online, compared to 65% for B&Q and 58.5% for Screwfix.
The problem isn’t that builders’ merchants don’t have the right tools. It’s that those tools, websites, stock systems, and location data aren’t joined up in a way that makes them visible or useful in search.
And that’s where competitors are winning.
What’s changed: Discovery is the new front door
On the trade side, customers are becoming more digitally fluent - that's not necessarily buying everything online, but checking availability, comparing prices, and finding ways to avoid wasted journeys.
- 60.5% of tradespeople shop both in-store and online
- Convenience (60.5%), price (51.5%), and product range (41.5%) are the top reasons they go online
- 54.5% say store location drives in-person visits, highlighting how proximity remains critical, but only if they know you're there
(Source: National Buying Group (NBG) & Insider Trends)
“If I can go online and check stock before I go - that saves time, which is money.”
- Tradesperson respondent in Valuing Local Independent Trade Merchants Report
Being visible when that search starts is the difference between winning the customer and never even being considered.
The Fix: Connect what you already have
Most merchants don’t need new systems. They need better connections between the ones they already use.
This means:
Linking live in-store stock to local product searches - Showing up accurately on Google Search, Maps, Shopping, and more (see image right).
- Creating a seamless journey from digital discovery to in-branch purchase
As Builders’ Merchants News put it: “The role of digital for tradespeople may not lie solely in sales, but mainly in support functions that bolster over-counter sales.”
This is the shift: from ecommerce as an endpoint to digital as the new trade counter, where customers gather information before stepping inside.
Real-world example: Beesley & Fildes
Here’s what it looks like when a builder’s merchant connects the dots. Beesley & Fildes is a 10-branch, family-run builders’ merchant serving the North West. They had all the right ingredients, a trusted name, stocked branches, and a strong website, but they weren’t appearing in local searches.
By partnering with NearSt, they connected their existing inventory systems to Google, turning live in-store inventory into a high-performing digital asset.
"NearSt helps us compete and win in both the local online and physical worlds."
- James Beesley, Commercial Director, Beesley & Fildes
In weeks, they saw:
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Found 16x more often on Google by local shoppers searching
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Appear in Google's top 3 local search results 31% of the time (Vs 0% before NearSt)
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1 in 10 shoppers who clicked a Local Inventory Ad visited a branch
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1:23 return on ad spend (ROAS) - £23 back for every £1 spent
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£0.76 cost per branch visit
For them, digital wasn’t about transforming the business. It was about making their physical strengths count online.
“It wasn’t about starting over. Just a smarter, more effective use of the tools the business already had.”
- James
Conclusion: Be there when the search begins
Builders’ merchants aren’t losing business because of service, stock, or experience. They’re losing business before customers ever walk through the door, simply by not being visible at the right moment.
Get online visibility right, and you don’t just grow footfall, you unlock data to guide stock, pricing, and branch-level performance.
Digital isn’t replacing the trade counter. It’s becoming the first step toward it.
And the good news? Most merchants already have everything they need, they just need to join it all together.
The modern trade counter starts online. If you’re not visible there, you’re not in the race.
Who is NearSt?
NearSt helps Builders Merchants connect their in-store stock to online platforms like Google, Facebook and more. This means nearby shoppers can see what you have in stock, helping merchants turn online shoppers into in-store customers.
