➡️What you can do with Ferguson in Ply
Once you connect your company’s Ferguson account to Ply, you can:
Shop Ferguson items inside Ply Library (based on your Ferguson account).
See your specific pricing as defined in your Ferguson setup.
Add items to your Catalog so you can manage them in Ply.
Track Consigned Inventory/Consignment inventory in Ply if your Ferguson account includes it.
Place Purchase Orders (POs) to Ferguson from Ply using your account.
| Feature | Description |
💰 | Your pricing, not generic pricing | The integration uses your Ferguson account's negotiated pricing — not list prices. What you see in Ply is what you're actually charged. |
🔄 | Live connection | Product availability and pricing reflect your current Ferguson account status — not a static import. |
📦 | POs go directly to Ferguson | Purchase Orders created in Ply are submitted directly to Ferguson using your account — no need to log in to the Ferguson website to place the order. |
Feature | Description |
🛒 Shop in the Ply Library | Browse your Ferguson catalog inside Ply. See product details, availability, and your account-specific pricing — all without leaving Ply. |
💲 See Your Account Pricing | Pricing shown in the Ply Library reflects your company's Ferguson pricing setup — not list prices. No manual price lookup required. |
📋 Add Items to Your Catalog | Found a product in the Ply Library? Add it to your Ply Catalog with one click so you can manage stock levels, set min/max, and include it in future POs. |
📤 Place POs to Ferguson | Create a Purchase Order in Ply and submit it directly to Ferguson using your account. No need to re-enter the order on Ferguson's website. |
⚠️ If enabled on your account |
🏭 Track Consigned Inventory (VMI): If your Ferguson account includes consignment (Vendor Managed Inventory), Ply tracks that stock separately as a "Ghost Warehouse." When you use consigned items, a billing order is automatically generated with Ferguson. See the Consignment section below for details. |
Here’s how that Ply Library looks like in your account:
Consignment requires Ferguson account setup.
The Ghost Warehouse and automatic Billing Orders only appear if your Ferguson account is configured for VMI Consignment. Contact your Ferguson account rep to confirm whether this is included in your account.
This is a Pilot Feature
The Ferguson Integration is currently available to select Ply customers. Access is tied to your company's Ferguson account. If you don't see the Ferguson features described here, contact us or your Account Manager to request access.
➡️Quick glossary
Key Terms: Ferguson Integration
Term | Scope | Description |
🛒 Ply Library | 🟠 Ferguson-specific | Your Ferguson shopping experience inside Ply. Tied to your company's Ferguson account — shows your products, your availability, and your negotiated pricing. Found under Purchasing → Ply Library. |
📋 Catalog | 🔵 Ply-wide | Your saved list of materials in Ply — the items you actively manage and reorder. When you add a Ferguson item from the Ply Library, it moves into your Catalog where you can set min/max levels, track stock, and include it in any PO. |
🏭 Consigned Inventory / VMI Consignment / Ghost Warehouse | 🟡 If enabled | Ferguson-managed stock stored at your location. Tracked in Ply as a separate "Ghost Warehouse" location. Items belong to Ferguson until you use them — at which point a Billing Order is automatically created. Only available if your Ferguson account includes VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory). |
📄 Billing Order | 🟣 Consignment only | An automatic replenishment order created when consigned inventory is used on a job in Ply. Ply generates this order and sends it to Ferguson to trigger billing for the items consumed. You don't create Billing Orders manually — they're generated automatically. |
📦 Purchase Order (PO) | 🟢 Standard | A manual order you create in Ply to buy items from Ferguson using your account. Unlike a Billing Order (which is automatic for consigned items), a PO is a deliberate purchase you initiate. The PO is submitted directly to Ferguson through the integration — no separate Ferguson login required. |
➡️ Two Different Ways to Work with Ferguson
Ply offers two separate ways to work with Ferguson; they serve different purposes:
🔗 Ferguson Integration | 🔌 Ply Punch-Out Extension |
Direct API connection. Your Ferguson catalog and account pricing live inside Ply. Supports consignment, direct POs, and account-specific pricing. | Chrome browser extension. Browse Ferguson.com normally and capture products/carts into Ply. Works for any Ferguson user — no special account setup needed. See Ply Punch-Out Chrome Extension. |
➡️ Best practices
✅ Always select "Ferguson Integrated" as the supplier on a PO, never plain "Ferguson."
Choosing the standard "Ferguson" option sends the PO as a regular email; it does not route through the integration or Trilogie. See How to manually create a Ferguson-integrated Purchase Order.
✅ Verify your region, account, and contract before browsing the Ply Library. Pricing and availability vary by branch and contract, ordering under the wrong one can mean incorrect pricing on your PO.
✅ If you get a generic Ferguson API error, note the exact action and time.
Since this error covers multiple different underlying causes (see below), the specific action you were doing (removing an item, adjusting stock, submitting a PO) and the exact timestamp help our team pinpoint the cause quickly.
➡️Common issues & fixes
"I'm getting 'Failed to send request to Ferguson API.'"
This is a general error message that can come from more than one underlying cause, it's not a single bug. Two confirmed causes we've seen:
Temporary connectivity issues between Ferguson's infrastructure and ours (intermittent gateway timeouts) — these tend to resolve on their own once the underlying connectivity issue clears, usually within the same day.
Ferguson's API limit on the number of products in a single request — if a PO (for example, a large Rolling Replenishment order) has too many line items, this error can appear even though the sync partially succeeded. This specific limitation has been addressed for large POs, but if you're placing an unusually large order and hit this, let us know, we can split the PO to get it through.
If you hit this error, note what you were doing (creating a PO, adjusting stock, removing an item) and the approximate time, and reach out to support, this helps us tell which of the above (or something new) is the cause.
"A material in my catalog isn't showing a live Ferguson price."
This usually means the material isn't linked to the matching Ferguson item on the backend yet. See How to get additional materials linked to Ferguson for the signs to look for and how to request the link.
"My business pricing looks different than what I expect after a sync."
If your Cost to Business values seem off after a Ferguson-related pricing sync, reach out to support with specific material examples, this is the kind of issue our engineering team can investigate and correct if pricing needs to be reverted or resynced.
"I'm not sure whether to use a PO or wait for automatic replenishment."
If you use Consigned Inventory (VMI), routine restocking is automatic, and you don't need to create anything manually. If you need materials outside your consigned inventory or need something faster than the daily replenishment cycle, use a manual PO instead. See Purchase Order (PO) vs. Consignment Automatic Replenishment Order for the full decision guide.
Questions about the Ferguson integration or want to get started? We're happy to help.