Selco Builders Warehouse has come a long way in just a year, completely transforming the customer experience
Through a network of over 70 stores, Selco Builders Warehouse (Selco) serves tradespeople across England and Wales with thousands of quality trade products both in store and online. Since our last conversation a year ago, Selco undertook a strategic review, analysing customer insight to understand their wants, what they felt was working well and where the business could do better. While customers appreciated the company’s one-stop shop proposition, its range and its availability, the feedback pointed to room for improvement across speed, convenience and value. Those three areas have since become the focus of a significant programme of change across the business. Frank Elkins, CEO, sheds light on the work Selco has been focusing on and the outcomes it has delivered.
“Around six months ago, we launched our Price Cut 357 programme, looking at our 357 most valuable, most frequently bought and highest turnover items. We invested £28 million into the shelf edge price, because we want to demonstrate to our customers that Selco is everyday good value. Customers should not have to wonder whether they are getting the right price for the products they buy regularly, so we now offer the right price. We trialled the Price Cut 357 initiative across a number of stores before rolling it out across our entire network in November 2025. The result is that customers can walk into any Selco store and see that those 357 items are priced exactly as they should be, without needing to visit a trade desk or negotiate with a colleague. They can simply pick up the item, get through the tills and get out quickly. We have seen more customers coming through our stores, and the message that Selco represents genuine value in the marketplace is landing,” he begins.
Before tackling the reliability issues in its delivery process, a major frustration for both colleagues and customers, Selco’s system provided only a rough delivery window, with no advance notice of arrival times on the day. As a result, customers were often disappointed when deliveries did not arrive when expected, leading to a high volume of inbound calls asking where their delivery was. To address this, the company created a delivery management process that has completely transformed the experience. Customers now receive an SMS confirming a two-hour delivery window, followed by another text with an exact estimated time of arrival (ETA) once the vehicle is en route. Moreover, they can track the delivery in real time, receive an electronic proof of delivery on arrival and provide feedback on the experience. By the end of June, this system will have been rolled out across the entire Selco network.
Delivery improvements
To make access to its products more convenient for customers, Selco has invested significantly in digital development, improving Click & Collect and delivery capabilities. “Internally, we are developing our web capability, and we are excited about launching a revised customer app around July,” Frank explains. “The new app will centre on loyalty, giving each customer visibility of where they sit in terms of loyalty rewards, what they have spent and how they can unlock further benefits through the app. Alongside that, we are actively developing our AI capabilities. We are fortunate to have a wealth of first-party data, but the focus now is on how we can leverage and optimise that data to better understand customer trends, anticipate what they need and deliver offers that are genuinely relevant to them. To that end, we are working with third-party specialists. A few weeks ago, we also launched a supplier portal, having worked initially with seven of our key suppliers to develop the portal, which gives them insights into what products sell in which stores, the availability of their products, and link-selling opportunities. This kind of insight helps everyone in the supply chain make better decisions,” Frank reveals.
As much as Selco is focused on delivering a better experience for its customers, the team behind that experience is equally important to the business, and the results of that investment have not gone unnoticed. Indeed, Selco was recently named as one of the Best Places to Work in the Best Companies Survey, a recognition Frank is clearly proud of. “What is truly great about our business is our colleagues and how much they care about what they do. We have a Women’s Forum dedicated to giving the women in our business a platform to share their feedback and discuss what Selco can do better. In the same vein, we run colleague feedback sessions where we listen and learn from the people on the ground. We have just launched our annual colleague engagement survey, and I am very clear about feeding the results back and acting on them.
“Beyond that, we do a lot of small things that matter. For example, we provide breakfast for all our colleagues in stores, something we started during the pandemic and have no intention of stopping. Community and charity are also very important to us. Our local community support programme, Selco Community Heroes, is focused on how we back local charities and causes, and we recently completed Race Across Selco, a massive charity event for Cancer Research UK. I had the pleasure of setting off a group of colleagues on a 90-mile bike ride a few weeks ago, with the aim to raise more money for the same cause. Our engagement around charity and community is genuinely brilliant, and I think all of it contributes to colleagues feeling truly connected to the business. Employee development played another key part in our recognition, as every colleague has a development conversation and we currently have 80 colleagues enrolled in apprenticeships spanning everything from AI knowledge to coaching and leadership. We are proud of the breadth of that offering and what it means for the people who work here,” he concludes.
Selco has spent the past year listening to its customers and acting on what they have said, something many businesses talk about, but few actually follow through on. The Price Cut 357, delivery overhaul, loyalty app and supplier portal are vital parts of a coherent and detailed plan to make Selco more efficient, fairer and easier to do business with. Additionally, its Best Places to Work recognition is a testament to Selco’s commitment to its team.