CLEVELAND — In a move aimed at transforming how U.S. distributors connect with contractors, Trade Hounds and Prokeep have announced a strategic integration designed to merge the power of social selling with streamlined order management.
Trade Hounds, known as America’s largest social community for tradespeople, is building out a Supply House Map and an AI-powered product catalog to simplify how skilled workers find and order materials. At the same time, Prokeep’s communication hub brings together phone, text, email and fax into one organized Order Engine, removing friction for branch sales teams.
Together, the integration is set to help distributors tap into the daily conversations and recommendations happening on Trade Hounds, giving inside sales reps new ways to influence purchase decisions directly at the jobsite.
“We’re excited to integrate our engaged community directly into the operational workflows of our distributor partners,” said David Bauders, CEO of Trade Hounds. “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.”
How It Works
The partnership links Trade Hounds’ growing catalog and AI-powered image search to Prokeep’s centralized order-taking tools. This means a contractor can snap a photo of a part or material, find it instantly—even without a part number—and send a purchase order right from the field.
Prokeep’s software ensures the request lands immediately with the right branch team, who can process the order or resolve questions in one streamlined system.
For distributors, this solves a real pain point: sales reps nationwide say they often receive random product photos from customers with no context. Now, AI does the heavy lifting to match images to SKUs, speeding up response times and eliminating guesswork.
Social Proof Meets Real-Time Selling
Trade Hounds has more than 400,000 users, making it a massive word-of-mouth channel for suppliers and manufacturers. In a 2024 poll, 70% of users said they’re more likely to buy a product they see on the app, which has become a hub for authentic tool reviews, jobsite photos and supplier shoutouts.
By merging this social trust with Prokeep’s actionable sales tools, distributors can tap into these organic endorsements to boost revenue. Prokeep is already trusted by thousands of North American branches because it fits seamlessly into existing workflows and connects every inbound channel into one place.
Key Benefits for Distributors
Through the new integration, distributors gain the ability to:
- Reach the next generation of buyers — from HVAC techs and plumbers to GCs — directly through the conversations they’re having online.
- Accelerate the quote-to-order cycle by converting social intent and field requests into real purchase orders in seconds.
- Build brand loyalty and awareness by showing up where customers already talk tools and suppliers.
- Use AI to eliminate friction in searching vast product catalogs — no more manual part lookups or missed sales opportunities.
A Sign of the Times
As the skilled trades workforce gets younger and more digital, distributors and manufacturers need to adapt how they reach buyers. Many tradespeople now expect the same on-demand convenience they find in consumer shopping, even when ordering parts for complex commercial or industrial projects.
The Trade Hounds + Prokeep partnership reflects that reality, blending social engagement, AI image search and instant order capture — a first for many in the building materials and industrial supply space.
Distributors and manufacturers can learn more or get listed in Trade Hounds’ expanding Supply House Map by contacting contact@tradehounds.com or visiting tradehounds.com.
About Trade Hounds
Trade Hounds is the largest professional community for the skilled trades, with over 400,000 contractors sharing real-world jobsite experiences, reviews and recommendations daily.
About Prokeep
Prokeep is the go-to Order Engine for over 8,500 distributors and 3 million contractors across North America, helping branch teams turn every customer touchpoint into revenue.
Originally reported by Trade Hounds in Construction Dive.