3 Line Electrical Wholesale Choose Enable to Support Growth and Expansion Goals

Industry Type

Electrical

Business Type

Distributor

The Company

3 Line Electrical Wholesale, established in 2009, has expanded to 15 branches across the UK, working with around 250 suppliers. As a fast-growing, independent electrical wholesaler, they supply a wide range of electrical products to contractors, installers, facilities managers, commercial/industrial users, and the general public.

Emma Goulding, the Management Accountant, handles day-to-day accounts and distributes monthly account packs to all branches. A key part of her role involves managing rebates.

Rebates have become increasingly important to 3 Line as suppliers shift from traditional price discounts to using rebates to differentiate pricing. Tracking these rebates is essential, as they can significantly impact quoting prices to customers. By monitoring rebate-driven pricing, 3 Line Electrical Wholesale ensures they deliver maximum value to their customers.

85% of Rebate Programs Come from the Buying Group

“The majority of our rebate deals are negotiated as a group. We do have some direct deals, but Enable has given us the opportunity to track the group spend accurately. This means we can forecast what we’re expecting to receive from our suppliers, especially the big ones, and identify opportunities—it’s huge for us,” says Emma.

She highlights the unique advantage of being part of a buying group like AWEBB, which consists of small independent companies. “For us to club together, work together, and get that value is really important for staying competitive in the market,” she explains.

By buying in bulk as a group, they can negotiate lower prices, which benefits their customers. “Being in the buying group allows us to compete with larger corporations,” Emma notes. “For many small businesses, the real USP is the staff and the incredible job they do every day to meet customer needs. We try to offer a personal service, and when that’s coupled with a stronger buying position, it makes all the difference for small independent wholesalers.”

The Challenges

Manual Spreadsheets

“For 3 Line, the biggest challenge was that all of our rebates were stored on a massive spreadsheet,” says Emma. “It was very technical at the time, but as we’ve grown as a business and taken on more and more deals, maintaining that spreadsheet became cumbersome. And, of course, everything is open to human error when it’s done manually.”

Emma explains the need for a better solution. “We wanted something more robust to track all of our deals, something that could grow with us as a business and handle the increasing complexity of our rebate programs.”

30 Minutes Per Deal Lost

“For 3 Line, reconciling and raising invoices used to take about 30 minutes per deal,” says Emma. “It wasn’t an efficient use of time, especially as the number of deals increased.”

With Enable in place, the process has significantly improved. “Now, depending on the complexity of the deal, it takes about 10 minutes. Allocating payments can sometimes take just a couple of minutes per deal,” Emma explains. “Of course, creating them still takes a bit longer, but it’s definitely cut down on our time overall. More importantly, it’s given us greater confidence in the rebates we’re accruing for.”

The Platform

Positive 35 Days Onboarding

Adopting a new rebate management system can be intimidating, especially when it involves migrating all existing information. But for Emma and the team, the whole process has been positive and straightforward.  

“When onboarding with Enable we had a specialized team at every stage—one for onboarding, another during the project stage, and then an aftercare team. I personally thought it was a really positive experience,” says Emma.

She appreciated the consistent support throughout the process. “There was never a point where I felt I couldn’t pick up the phone or send an email. There was always someone available to help, and if they didn’t have the answer immediately, they’d connect me with someone who did,” she explains.

Rebate Agreements All in One Place

“With Enable, I can just go straight into the platform, and there it is—everything I need, with all the background details and agreements in one place.” Emma contrasts this with their previous process. “Before, I’d have to go to my spreadsheet, look up the deal, and it would take that much longer. Now, it’s so much more streamlined. Since getting used to the system, I’ve found it to be really user-friendly, and I can easily find everything I need.”

Collecting Rebates Owed with Confidence

“Most of our rebate earnings are collected by the buying group, however, we do have a proportion of direct deals that we manage ourselves,” says Emma.

She highlights how Enable has improved the process. “With everything in one place, I can now confidently challenge any discrepancies and work with suppliers to find solutions. It’s just so much easier to find the information I need and manage these deals effectively,” she adds.

Debtors Report

“I think the ability to run the debtor's report, allocate payments online, and look up specific deals all in one place has been a game-changer,” says Emma. “It allows us to quickly identify if we’ve missed any deals or if there’s a discrepancy.”

She continues, “It also helps me spot if I’ve set up a deal incorrectly or if I need to go back and clarify any missed spend for the month. Having everything in one place makes it much easier to manage and ensures accuracy across the board.”

Tailored Advanced Reporting

“There were a couple of specific reports we needed that were slightly out of the norm, but it wasn’t a problem,” says Emma. “The team at Enable went away, worked on them, and came back with custom reports for us.”

She explains how this flexibility has benefited their operations. “Now, we have the advanced reporting section, and I can run my own reports. For example, I can capture the buying group figures or upload our own data, so we can track exactly what we’re expecting. All of our data reports are now set up to run on certain dates, which makes it much easier to manage.”

Optimizing and Analyzing Spend

“We’ve got multiple rebate deals with multiple suppliers, and Enable allows us to track and analyze not only the 3 Line spend but also the buying group spend. Previously, we had visibility into this data, but never all in one place where we could compare it easily,” says Emma.

She highlights the strategic advantage Enable provides. “Now, with the ability to analyze the deals, we can see which tiers we’re close to meeting. If it’s financially beneficial to reach the next tier, we can tailor our spend towards a specific supplier. For example, if we put an extra £10,000 through a company, we might receive an additional 2% rebate, which is worth more than the extra spend. This kind of insight allows us to make smarter decisions about where to focus our purchases.”

Better Financial Planning

Emma tells us, “Enable has allowed us to be a lot more visible in terms of our rebate tracking. For example, many of our suppliers pay us quarterly, so with Enable, we can now anticipate what we’re going to receive in each quarter.”

This visibility has made a significant impact on financial planning. “When we’re thinking about our capital expenditure and how to finance it, it’s helped us plan much more effectively for future expenditure,” Emma explains. “We can now make more informed decisions based on the rebates we’re expecting to receive.”

Branch Expansion

Emma emphasizes the impact on the company’s growth. “We’ve opened a couple of new branches in the last year, and we expanded the year before as well. It’s been much easier to track our income stream and ensure we have the funds for expansion. It allows us to plan our expenditure more effectively by tracking the money we’re due and the timing of it, which has made the whole process much easier.”

Emma Goulding
Management Accountant

Takeaways

  • 3 Line Electrical Wholesale transitioned from managing rebates on cumbersome spreadsheets to using the Enable platform, which streamlined the process. Tasks like reconciling and raising invoices were significantly sped up, with deal processing time reduced from 30 minutes to about 10 minutes per deal.

  • Enable’s platform allows 3 Line to analyze and optimize spend strategically. By monitoring rebate tiers and supplier deals, they can make data-driven decisions to maximize financial benefits.

  • Membership in the AWEBB buying group, combined with Enable’s capabilities, enables 3 Line to leverage collective bargaining power and compete with larger corporations. The platform’s features, such as centralized agreement tracking and debtor reporting, have supported branch expansion.

Key Metrics:

35 Days
Onboarding
250
Suppliers
30 > 10
Minutes Per Deal
See what Enable can do for you.
Get a Demo

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3 Line Electrical Wholesale Choose Enable to Support Growth and Expansion Goals

Industry Type

Electrical

Business Type

Distributor

The Company

3 Line Electrical Wholesale, established in 2009, has expanded to 15 branches across the UK, working with around 250 suppliers. As a fast-growing, independent electrical wholesaler, they supply a wide range of electrical products to contractors, installers, facilities managers, commercial/industrial users, and the general public.

Emma Goulding, the Management Accountant, handles day-to-day accounts and distributes monthly account packs to all branches. A key part of her role involves managing rebates.

Rebates have become increasingly important to 3 Line as suppliers shift from traditional price discounts to using rebates to differentiate pricing. Tracking these rebates is essential, as they can significantly impact quoting prices to customers. By monitoring rebate-driven pricing, 3 Line Electrical Wholesale ensures they deliver maximum value to their customers.

85% of Rebate Programs Come from the Buying Group

“The majority of our rebate deals are negotiated as a group. We do have some direct deals, but Enable has given us the opportunity to track the group spend accurately. This means we can forecast what we’re expecting to receive from our suppliers, especially the big ones, and identify opportunities—it’s huge for us,” says Emma.

She highlights the unique advantage of being part of a buying group like AWEBB, which consists of small independent companies. “For us to club together, work together, and get that value is really important for staying competitive in the market,” she explains.

By buying in bulk as a group, they can negotiate lower prices, which benefits their customers. “Being in the buying group allows us to compete with larger corporations,” Emma notes. “For many small businesses, the real USP is the staff and the incredible job they do every day to meet customer needs. We try to offer a personal service, and when that’s coupled with a stronger buying position, it makes all the difference for small independent wholesalers.”

The Challenges

Manual Spreadsheets

“For 3 Line, the biggest challenge was that all of our rebates were stored on a massive spreadsheet,” says Emma. “It was very technical at the time, but as we’ve grown as a business and taken on more and more deals, maintaining that spreadsheet became cumbersome. And, of course, everything is open to human error when it’s done manually.”

Emma explains the need for a better solution. “We wanted something more robust to track all of our deals, something that could grow with us as a business and handle the increasing complexity of our rebate programs.”

30 Minutes Per Deal Lost

“For 3 Line, reconciling and raising invoices used to take about 30 minutes per deal,” says Emma. “It wasn’t an efficient use of time, especially as the number of deals increased.”

With Enable in place, the process has significantly improved. “Now, depending on the complexity of the deal, it takes about 10 minutes. Allocating payments can sometimes take just a couple of minutes per deal,” Emma explains. “Of course, creating them still takes a bit longer, but it’s definitely cut down on our time overall. More importantly, it’s given us greater confidence in the rebates we’re accruing for.”

The Platform

Positive 35 Days Onboarding

Adopting a new rebate management system can be intimidating, especially when it involves migrating all existing information. But for Emma and the team, the whole process has been positive and straightforward.  

“When onboarding with Enable we had a specialized team at every stage—one for onboarding, another during the project stage, and then an aftercare team. I personally thought it was a really positive experience,” says Emma.

She appreciated the consistent support throughout the process. “There was never a point where I felt I couldn’t pick up the phone or send an email. There was always someone available to help, and if they didn’t have the answer immediately, they’d connect me with someone who did,” she explains.

Rebate Agreements All in One Place

“With Enable, I can just go straight into the platform, and there it is—everything I need, with all the background details and agreements in one place.” Emma contrasts this with their previous process. “Before, I’d have to go to my spreadsheet, look up the deal, and it would take that much longer. Now, it’s so much more streamlined. Since getting used to the system, I’ve found it to be really user-friendly, and I can easily find everything I need.”

Collecting Rebates Owed with Confidence

“Most of our rebate earnings are collected by the buying group, however, we do have a proportion of direct deals that we manage ourselves,” says Emma.

She highlights how Enable has improved the process. “With everything in one place, I can now confidently challenge any discrepancies and work with suppliers to find solutions. It’s just so much easier to find the information I need and manage these deals effectively,” she adds.

Debtors Report

“I think the ability to run the debtor's report, allocate payments online, and look up specific deals all in one place has been a game-changer,” says Emma. “It allows us to quickly identify if we’ve missed any deals or if there’s a discrepancy.”

She continues, “It also helps me spot if I’ve set up a deal incorrectly or if I need to go back and clarify any missed spend for the month. Having everything in one place makes it much easier to manage and ensures accuracy across the board.”

Tailored Advanced Reporting

“There were a couple of specific reports we needed that were slightly out of the norm, but it wasn’t a problem,” says Emma. “The team at Enable went away, worked on them, and came back with custom reports for us.”

She explains how this flexibility has benefited their operations. “Now, we have the advanced reporting section, and I can run my own reports. For example, I can capture the buying group figures or upload our own data, so we can track exactly what we’re expecting. All of our data reports are now set up to run on certain dates, which makes it much easier to manage.”

Optimizing and Analyzing Spend

“We’ve got multiple rebate deals with multiple suppliers, and Enable allows us to track and analyze not only the 3 Line spend but also the buying group spend. Previously, we had visibility into this data, but never all in one place where we could compare it easily,” says Emma.

She highlights the strategic advantage Enable provides. “Now, with the ability to analyze the deals, we can see which tiers we’re close to meeting. If it’s financially beneficial to reach the next tier, we can tailor our spend towards a specific supplier. For example, if we put an extra £10,000 through a company, we might receive an additional 2% rebate, which is worth more than the extra spend. This kind of insight allows us to make smarter decisions about where to focus our purchases.”

Better Financial Planning

Emma tells us, “Enable has allowed us to be a lot more visible in terms of our rebate tracking. For example, many of our suppliers pay us quarterly, so with Enable, we can now anticipate what we’re going to receive in each quarter.”

This visibility has made a significant impact on financial planning. “When we’re thinking about our capital expenditure and how to finance it, it’s helped us plan much more effectively for future expenditure,” Emma explains. “We can now make more informed decisions based on the rebates we’re expecting to receive.”

Branch Expansion

Emma emphasizes the impact on the company’s growth. “We’ve opened a couple of new branches in the last year, and we expanded the year before as well. It’s been much easier to track our income stream and ensure we have the funds for expansion. It allows us to plan our expenditure more effectively by tracking the money we’re due and the timing of it, which has made the whole process much easier.”

Key Results:

35 Days
Onboarding
250
Suppliers
30 > 10
Minutes Per Deal
See what Enable can do for you
Get a Demo