Two centuries-old builder’s merchant Beesley & Fildes has embraced AI and is already converting sales enquiries at more than twice the industry baseline.
The Liverpool-based merchant, founded in 1820, has launched a fully autonomous AI agent – Otis – that searches live stock, builds quotations, manages trade accounts and handles complaints around the clock.
Beesley & Fildes said until now its trade expertise has been available during branch hours, on the end of a phone, from someone who knows the products. Now, expertise is available every hour of every day, without a single call going unanswered.
The AI agent Otis, developed in partnership with Optiflow Technologies, is live on the company’s ecommerce platform at beesleyandfildes.co.uk.
Otis reasons across multiple steps to complete commercial tasks end to end — searching live inventory, generating multi-line quotations, processing trade account enquiries, managing complaints and integrating directly into the merchant’s CRM.
“The merchant sector is evolving rapidly, and customers increasingly expect instant access to information, pricing and support at any time of day,” said James Beesley, commercial director, Beesley & Fildes.
“Otis has been developed to support both our customers and our internal teams by improving response times, simplifying product discovery and helping customers complete projects more efficiently. This is not about replacing people. It is about enhancing customer service, supporting sales growth and using technology intelligently within a builders’ merchant environment.”
The platform has been trained specifically around builders’ merchant workflows and product categories, including timber, landscaping, bricks, aggregates, plumbing and building materials.
“The builders’ merchant sector is one of the last industries where the majority of sales still depend on someone picking up the phone,” said Chris Fagan, CEO, Optiflow Technologies.
“Every missed call, every overnight email, every customer who couldn’t get a price and went elsewhere — that’s revenue walking out the door,” said Chris Fagan, CEO, Optiflow Technologies.
Optiflow Technologies is currently working with a select group of merchant partners and is actively expanding across the sector.
