Andy Scothern is from a building family, first going on site as a 5-year-old with his Dad and later working with his 2 brothers for his Dad’s company when he left school. Andy qualified as a joiner and cabinet maker and has had several businesses in construction sector.
He went on to gain an MBA from the University of Nottingham (Global top 50 university) before being recruited by Jewson (SGBDUK) as Director of digital; tasked with taking Jewson online, which he did in the space of 18 months. Since leaving Jewson in 2013, Andy founded his software company eCommonSense, which provides a Turnkey website and product management solution for builders’ merchants and their suppliers.
Andy has extensive experience as a merchant’s customer, as a merchant, and in technology, which gives him a unique vantage point on the industry; in short, he talks the language of tradespeople, knows what they need and understands how to deliver it within the business model of a builder’s merchant.
Andy is also an accredited trainer for the Builders Merchant Federation where he educates merchants and suppliers on digital strategy, transformation, trends and developments and is a regular feature writer for Builders Merchant News where he writes about digitisation of the sector and the impact of new technology.