HiQ has launched Virtual Warehouse, an online purchasing portal intended to save stores at least £3,500 annually.

For the first time, franchisees will be able to buy every item and service to run its business, from towels and uniforms to oil, tyres and car parts.

Virtual Warehouse is open to all franchisees and uses the buying power of the company network to provide better purchasing terms for everyone, said HiQ.

Commercial manager Farrell Dolan said: “Excluding tyres and parts we estimate that annual ongoing savings in the Virtual Warehouse are a minimum of £3,500 per store per year. On top of these are one-off cost savings such as equipment and signage.

Virtual Warehouse is a system that is used by Goodyear Dunlop in Germany which HiQ has licensed and adapted for UK use.

The portal is accessed via GRIPS, a point of sale customer service system, at each HiQ centre.

Farrell added: “We ultimately want to be able to have a seamless one click route between ordering from the GRIPS shopping basket through to the supplier and receipts of goods. It will not only provide additional cost savings, but improvements in efficiency and savings in administration.

“Within the portal there is a regional option to make sure that the purchasing deals we gave reflect each centre’s needs.”