The tile distribution industry is unique as it is its own vertical market; however, most all distributors carry other complementary products such as setting materials, grout, related tools, etc. A true tile distributor differs from a floor covering distributor in that they predominantly carry floor and wall tiles and trim pieces. They generally do not carry other types of resilient flooring such as hardwood, laminate, or vinyl flooring.

  Infor ERP FACTS Tile Distributor components

Inventory Control: Because many of the products tile distributors sell are natural, color lots often vary greatly

• Infor ERP FACTS controls color lots by shade to ensure pickers always pull single orders from the same color lots, improving customer service and inventory management while reducing the chance of returns

Groupage Capabilities: Tile distributors often buy products from different overseas distributors, then bringing them to the U.S. in one container

• Infor ERP FACTS allows groupage, where distributors build and track containers that contain multiple purchase orders from multiple vendors

Factory and Landed Cost Maintenance: To calculate an item’s final price, tile distributors must factor in all of the costs involved in sourcing a product- like freight and broker charges and duties- with the manufacturer’s invoice price

• Infor ERP FACTS calculates all of these variables when determining a product’s cost to ensure distributors maintain competitive margins

Payment Options: Because many tile distributors deal with different types of customers (i.e., designers, contractors, end users, retailers). They must be able to accept different payment forms

• Infor ERP FACTS lets distributors accommodate these types of customers by enabling them to accept multiple forms of payment for a single order. Plus, Infor ERP FACTS allows you to track cash deposits for in-stock and non-stock items, eliminating the need to keep handwritten notes in your cash drawers

Seamless Real Time Branch Transfers: Thanks to tile’s increasingly popularity, many distributors now operate more then one warehouse- or one distribution center and several showrooms

• Infor ERP FACTS real time capabilities make it easy for distributors to transfer inventory seamlessly form location to location while ensuring that you know what you have in stock on a minute-by-minute basis

Handling Samples: Many contractors and end-users want to take a few pieces of tile to see what best fits in their kitchen, bathroom, or foyers. While distributors may charge nothing for these samples, they should track what leaves the showroom to better calculate inventory costs.

• Infor ERP FACTS simplifies creating sample invoices within order entry. In addition to better understanding inventory costs, distributors can use this capability to follow up on sales opportunities, track popularity trends, and pursue the pieces they want customers to return.

Accessory Items: Many tile distributors sell grout with tile, and tile cutters and scoring wheels.

• Infor ERP FACTS automatically suggests products that go with items on a customer’s order, helping increase sales and customer satisfaction

Conversions: Many tile distributors import product from countries with different units of measure, and customers often request product in different units of measure

• Infor ERP FACTS can automatically convert metric measurements into inches and feet after distributors upload data from overseas manufacturers, simplifying the process of importing product and reducing the chance of errors
• Infor ERP FACTS also enables distributors to buy and sell in square feet but print cartons or pieces on the order forms

Slab Tracking: Many distributors carry slabs of marble, granite, and other stone

• Infor ERP FACTS enables distributors to track expensive slabs of stone from the time they arrive until they leave your warehouse and beyond by allowing them to assign each slab a serial number that will uniquely identify the piece of stone
• Often large slabs might have cracks or fissures, decreasing the amount of product distributors can actually sell. Infor ERP FACTS also allows them to track the usable dimensions of each slab, and modify the dimensions of any particular slab at any point in the process as needed
• Infor ERP FACTS also simplifies inventory allocation processes. When a customer requests 50 or 60 square feet of a certain type of stone, the solution allows distributors to enter the individual serial numbers and provides a running total of square footage, allowing you to easily see when the customer’s needs have been met. And if a distributor offers the customer a sample from the slab, you can edit its dimensions to reflect the giveaway

Distributor Profile

Tile distributors fall into many categories*, including:

• Stocking distributors: Purchases material from the manufacturer (import or domestic); resells materials to other tile or flooring companies; may have delivery schedules
  • Requires shade control and import container control; container tracking with groupage (groupage is the ability to have different vendors POs in one container- a great feature for the smaller importer); calculating landed costs (this includes material cost, duty, ocean freight, inland freight and all other costs associated with getting the material into the warehouse); ability to sell in full cartons only based on individual item; buy and sell in square feet but print carton and pieces on order forms; ability to purchase by full pallet only; track sample displays given out.
• Stocking distributor with contractor outlet: Purchasing material from the manufacturer (import or domestic); resells materials to other tile or flooring companies; does counter business with contractors showroom for tile selection (not retail sales); may have delivery schedules
  • Requires container tracking with groupage; calculating landed costs; shade tracking; ability to sell in full cartons only based on individual item; buy and sell in square feet but print carton and pieces on order forms; ability to purchase by full pallet only; ability to create POs for customers orders while in the order entry program to fax PO to vendor in this same process; counter billing and cash acceptance; track showroom selections; track sample displays given out.
• Stocking Distributor with retail counter: Purchases material from the manufacturer (import or domestic); resells materials to other tile or flooring companies; counter business for contractor trade; showroom for tile selection (not retail sales); may have delivery schedules
  • Requires container tracking with groupage; calculating landed costs; shade tracking; ability to sell in full cartons only based on individual item; buy and sell in square feet but print carton and pieces on order forms; ability to purchase by full pallet only; ability to create POs for customers orders while in the order entry program to fax PO to vendor in this same process; counter billing and cash acceptance; track showroom selections; track showroom samples given out; displays given out. track sample displays given out.
• Non-Stocking Distributor with retail/contractor counter only: May stock a few of the most popular items; takes orders from customers, then places orders with local distributors to fill orders; most sales are cash
  • Requires shade tracking; ability to sell in full cartons only or by the piece based on individual item; buy and sell in square feet but print carton and pieces on order forms; ability to purchase by full pallet only; ability to create POs for customers orders while in the order entry program to fax PO to vendor in this same process; track showroom selections; track showroom samples given out; associating a customer order line to a PO line item for tracking purposes.

 

* One tile distributor may fall into many of the above profiles or just one.

 

 

 

Infor ERP FACTS Customer Overviews are available on the following tile distributors:

• Gulf Tile
• Kate-Lo Tile
• Alpha Tile
• Many other tile companies available upon request

 

Associations and tradeshows:

Ceramic Tile Distributors Association- www.ctdahome.org

The Tile Association- www.tile-assn.com

Tile Contractors’ Association of America- www.tcaainc.org

 

Publications:

Tile dealer (six issues/year): www.tiledealer.org for distributors and dealers; includes industry reports

Tile Magazine (five issues/year); www.tilemagonline.com for contractors, architects, retailers, distributors, importers, and manufacturer; focuses mostly on contractor’s issues

Tile Letter (twelve issues/year); www.tileletter.com for contractors

Contemporary Stone and Tile Design (four issues/year) www.stoneworld.com

Learn more about ERP Tile distributor solutions from DPI and Infor's FACTS :  view a demo of ERP FACTS for Tile Distributors.

---

DPI Information Services solutions are built on a standard platform that’s easy to customize to your particular business needs. DPI Information Services, an Authorized Infor Channel Partner, will work closely with you to make sure you get a solution that fits your way of doing business. For more information about how DPI Information Services can help you become a World-Class Distributor contact us here.