BuildDirect CEO on building the Amazon for home improvement

jeff booth

Since launching in 1999, Vancouver-based BuildDirect has established itself as one of the go-to ecommerce platforms for home renovation products. With at least $50 million from its recent round of funding and constant rumours of an IPO, The Disruptors host Amber Kanwar sat with BuildDirect CEO Jeff Booth about how he’s made home improvement retail work.

Booth said that he wants BuildDirect to be the Amazon of home improvement. “Amazon is the only ecommerce company that actually built a supply chain, and they built a supply chain around lightweight goods. Part of the reason they’re winning today is because of this robust supply chain, which hinge FedEx’s supply chain,” said Jeff Booth, CEO of BuildDirect. “We built something similar for heavyweight goods.”

Because of this vision, Booth said that there was a challenge of thinking about logistics before event launching the company. “We had to build a UPS or FedEX of heavyweight goods before we could even start. We built an entire logistics framework,” he said.

Kanwar wondered whether it was a challenge to build an Amazon-style company for heavy goods — it’s easy for a customer to pick a shirt, but not necessarily a door or lumber online. “Our entire mission is to simplify the home improvement market. Everything that we do is actually driven into that,” said Booth, adding that the company provides free samples and 30-day money-back guarantees.”

Watch the whole interview below:

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Jessica Galang

Jessica Galang

Freelance tech writer. Former BetaKit News Editor.

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