A strong community

In 1970 – exactly 50 years ago – twelve building technology distributors joined forces with E/D/E and founded the WUPPER-RING. The motive for founding the company at that time was to be able to assert itself on the market as a strong association through joint purchasing, sales and marketing activities. In its anniversary year, WUPPER-RING will revitalize this founding idea through numerous activities related to its new structure.

“Nowadays, the focus has shifted and our distributors are faced with completely different market sizes,” says Peter Jüngst, E/D/E Managing Director Goods for the building technology, construction, steel and logistics sectors. “In the wake of concentration processes, increased mergers on the manufacturer side and increasingly fierce competition in the online sector, cooperation within the network is becoming more important than ever.” For this reason, WUPPER-RING is focusing on joining forces with strong partners such as the cooperation with VGH International, mah and, more recently, IGH, as well as on the continuous expansion of membership structures in Germany and abroad. Two more new members were recently acquired: W MC in Kufstein (AT) and Sanitaires Willy P utz in Schieren (LU). “The two renowned European companies not only strengthen our community, but also show once again that WUPPER-RING’s range of services can also convince across borders,” says Georg Wolf, E/D/E business division manager for building services. Around 100 retailers with 160 locations are currently affiliated with WUPPER-RING.

Strengthening solidarity WUPPER-RING has also changed its visual appearance for the start of the anniversary year and is now appearing as its own brand with the new “WUPPER-RING TOGETHER.ACT” logo. The main objective: to strengthen the bond and the strong sense of belonging of the members to WUPPER-RING once again. The goal is supported by an image campaign that focuses on WUPPER-RING as a strong, established and functioning community. “With our motto ‘WUPPER-RING. We all are.’, we have revitalized the founding idea,” says Wolf. In addition, the exchange of information and opinions now characterizes all WUPPER-RING events even more strongly. For example, the spring meetings were recently held in a new format. You can read about the new concept and how it has been received on the next page.

Online in focus

The WUPPER-RING homepage ( www.wupper-ring.de ) has also been adapted to the new look and will be expanded to include a detailed presentation of the range of services over the course of the year. There are also plans to link the member and own-brand websites to the homepage and to create an internal area for sharing information. In future, users will find regular updates on relevant news, new products, installation videos and training via e-learning.

“In addition to the visual change, the stronger focus on social media and the continuous improvement of product data by eDC Daten Haustechnik, we will continue on the path we embarked on in 2019 of concentrating on key suppliers in all product groups,” explains Wolf.

Central warehouse strengthens dealers

Central logistics for building technology products has also become increasingly important: More and more distributors in the WUPPER-RING are taking advantage of the process and cost benefits of the E/D/E warehouse and switching to direct procurement. This is also reflected in the figures, as warehouse sales in 2019 were 40% up on the previous year at just under 30 million euros.

E/D/E Haustechnik was a pioneer with the launch of the FORMAT brand in 1987. Today, after more than 30 years, private labels are more important than ever for the medium-sized PVH in order to generate additional margins, to avoid comparability and to set themselves apart from the competition. In the next issue, you can read how WUPPER-RING is gearing its own-brand strategy towards the future. [pro]

Anniversary year 2020 – WUPPER-RING celebrates 50 years of existence