Material Bank is a platform that acts
as a vast resource library for the physical materials used by the Architect and
Design community. Traditionally, each
firm has maintained a physical library of samples from hundreds of suppliers with
thousands of SKUs for items ranging from carpet to ceiling lamps and everything
in between. It’s an industry of physical material, and as such has been slow to
build a digital user experience that coincides with the expectations of the
modern designer popularized in large part to Amazon.
It’s in this environment that Adam
Sandow, the founder and CEO of Material Bank, has found a way to transform the
industry.
“We all used to book airline travel through an
agent, and then the airlines offered websites,” said Sandow. “We thought ‘this
is great! I can just go to AA.com or Delta.com to book my flights.’ Until we
wanted to price shop. Then you had to search four or five different websites
and write down all the prices and by the time you found the price you wanted,
it may be gone.” -source TechCrunch
Beyond the convince of being able to
coordinate the arrival of a designers selection in the same shipment, the site
offers a power database for the industry to search. In no other way has the ability to search for
a “Red+Geometric+Upholstery+Meets California Flame Requirements” been possible
across so many vendors.
The shakeup in the industry with designers
being able to search so easily across such a wide array of suppliers will mean
that suppliers will have to think not only of the designs of their product, but
how customers will search for them on this new platform. Categories which were dominated by only 2 or 3
main players that were able to secure shelf space in a designers library, will find
they are competing against hundreds of brands.
Being able to account for the way designers are searching on the platform, and standing out amongst the crowd will be key to finding success in
the digital space for these physical material suppliers.
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