MaterialsXchange Adds Automated Ordering to Wholesale Lumber Marketplace

MaterialsXchange has updated its B2B marketplace for lumber, panels and other building material products.

The marketplace now includes a streamlined ordering process that lets suppliers offer an ask/bid pricing structure that allows prices to be negotiated and transactions to occur instantly. It also enables buyers to receive alerts or order products directly, MaterialsXchange said in a Wednesday (Feb. 1) press release.

“With our new updated platform, we’re making it even easier for buyers and sellers to transact — all with complete transparency and at the click of a button,” MaterialsXchange President Mike Wisnefski said in the release.

MaterialsXchange was founded to bring algorithmic speed and accuracy to the lumber and building materials (LBM) vertical, Wisnefski told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in September.

“That’s how the whole idea got started,” Wisnefski said at the time. “What was discovered was that the physically traded commodity markets are not pure exchanges. It’s like a hybrid between eCommerce and an exchange. What an exchange does really well is allow for price discovery.”

MaterialsXchange’s updated platform also helps suppliers list products easily, view all pending and shipped orders, send invoices, receive automated payouts and connect with buyers. They can also offer risk-free terms enabled by the firm’s partnership with Balance, according to the press release.

For buyers, the platform provides one-stop shopping, order placement and access to real-time shipping prices and delivery updates, the release said.

The platform leverages the backend operating system (OS) of Mickey, a tech company with which MaterialsXchange joined forces in September. With this OS from Mickey, which focuses on digitizing the trading of physical commodities, the platform offers an ordering experience that’s automated and streamlined, per the release.

“LBM buyers can learn more about the products they’re ordering — including all of the traditional lumber variants — along with the delivered price,” Mickey Chief Technology Officer Weston Stewart-Tennes said in the release. “With MX, there are never hidden fees or surprise surcharges, and buyers can receive updates on the delivery of their order 24/7. We believe the technology powering the new MX platform will continue to disrupt this antiquated industry.”

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