Trade Hounds, America’s biggest social marketplace for tradespeople, today announced a strategic integration initiative with Prokeep, the market-leading Order Engine purpose-built for distributors. As the construction industry faces evolving buyer behavior, this partnership represents a new era of smart, socially connected, insight-driven selling. This partnership is set to transform how American distributors engage with their customers. It will streamline communications, increase revenue, and create powerful new sales opportunities for distributors and manufacturers. 

Trade Hounds is building a Supply House Map and expansive product catalog leveraging AI to simplify and accelerate the buying process for tradespeople. With AI-powered image search, technicians will be able to snap or upload a photo to instantly identify and locate the products they need—no part number required. After speaking with dozens of distributor sales reps nationwide, Trade Hounds recognized that this same technology also solves a daily pain point for reps who regularly receive product images from customers. Additionally, AI is being used to enhance the search experience, making it faster and more intuitive to find materials across categories and brands.

Prokeep built a dominant position helping distributors modernize their customer service operations, consolidating fragmented communications (text, email, fax, and phone calls) into one centralized inbox for branch teams. This eliminates friction in order-taking and issue resolution, enabling inside sales and counter staff to move faster, deliver better service, and increase revenue per rep. Prokeep is trusted by thousands of distributor branches across North America for its seamless fit within existing workflows and systems, enabling teams to serve their customers faster and drive sales proactively with tailored tools and centralized customer insights.

"We’re excited to integrate our engaged community directly into the operational workflows of our distributor partners,” said Trade Hounds CEO David Bauders. “This move will unlock significant commercial value for Prokeep customers while equipping them to compete—and win—with a new generation of digital-native tradespeople.”

With more than 400,000 users across the skilled trades, Trade Hounds creates a powerful source of social proof that distributors and manufacturers can leverage to build credibility and awareness. These organic endorsements help sellers stand out in a crowded market.

In a 2024 poll of Trade Hounds users, 70% said they’re more likely to buy a product if they see it on the Trade Hounds app. Trade Hounds has become the go-to platform where tradespeople share real jobsite photos, videos, tool reviews, and supplier shoutouts. This stream of user-generated content not only fuels authentic conversations—it shapes purchasing behavior and brand perception on a daily basis.

Through this partnership, distributors using Prokeep can tap into these valuable social signals and connect with customers at their time of need. Combined with Prokeep’s best-in-class sales and marketing tools, this social layer gives inside sales teams a new edge: influence at scale, powered by the voices of the trades.

The integration with Prokeep will offer Trade Hounds users the ability to quickly communicate purchase orders and requisitions to distributors from the field. This gives inside sales reps real-time access to buyer intent data from active tradespeople, while enabling distributors to:

• Identify and connect with the next generation of buyers—from electricians and plumbers to HVAC techs and general contractors.
• Sell more effectively by joining the conversation where it starts: on the jobsite.
• Build brand preference and loyalty through authentic social engagement between their sales teams and end-users.
• Gain market insights to add more value to their customer relationships—helping sellers offer the right products and services at the right time.

Distributors and manufacturers interested in displaying their product catalogs on the Trade Hounds app should email [email protected] or visit tradehounds.com for more information.