xpedx alone generated more than $1.5 billion in e-commerce sales in 2009, pro-cessing more than 6 million orders online. “E-procurement increases productivity and improves efficiency across all cleaning staff and management levels, freeing up time to focus on other more important aspects of their jobs,” said Dave Wallace, director of e-business and customer serv-ice for xpedx. “For example, product usage tracking helps managers promote and ensure stan-dardization and usage consistency across hundreds of buildings at a few regional locations or even a single site,” Wallace added. The Internet has completely changed the way business is done. The ease and availability of products and services on the Internet gives e-commerce a hefty advantage over the traditional brick and mortar distributorship. There are key points to think about when considering e-commerce as a product source: Does their product line fit your needs? Do they offer any form of support beyond the directions printed on the product label? Is their shipping method reasonable and quick? Because the main lifeline of the supply chain would be conducted via the Internet, the product source that is ultimately chosen should fit all of the above criteria. Otherwise, you’re taking a risk on prod-ucts that don’t quite fit your needs. The only thing worse would be to have products that don’t fit your needs and you have no idea what to do with them. Freedom From Hassle “Customers are clear: Managing and buy-ing cleaning supplies online saves money, time and hassle,” Wallace explained. “They really like the freedom from having to place every order by phone or fax, per-sonally managing all follow-ups, manually tracking supplies and shipments and deal-ing with unnecessary paperwork.” Ordering online also reduces the need for businesses to carry large local invento-ry, speeds up product replenishment, frees up working capital and helps accommodate today’s tightened budgets. Strong adoption of online ordering and supplies management is expected to con-tinue because of the many business advan-tages it delivers: Simplicity, ease and time savings for those with purchasing authority and front line workers. When looking to take a business towards utilizing an e-commerce platform, it is important that the site you chose is the right one for your business. Just as you would take the time to properly research a traditional supplier, so, too, must you research an e-commerce option. Take your time and try different suppliers on for size. What sounds good in theory may not be good for you. Remember, you’re looking for the best business solution to fit all of your compa-ny’s needs. CM You can remove the crawling critters, creepy crud and the icky stickies from carpet... so what? That's right. You can perform resurrections. You take trashed carpet and bring it back to life. But guess what? You must have more (and better) new customers! In this one-day seminar, learn how to: Get top position with Google and the major search engines, ensuring customers find you first Write press releases to promote your company Build your newsletter and referral system Master the art of "cold calling" for new customers Create fantastic print and online advertisements Totally Booked You need to attend... TM UNIVERSITY Residential and Commercial Marketing Techniques that Work. ! www.totallybookeduniversity.com HUGE BONUS! Pittsburgh Friday, July 16 Cincinnati Friday, July 30 Each attendee goes home with a USB flash drive with all types of business building and marketing forms, videos, books, presentations and much more. Baltimore Atlanta Boston Seattle Friday, Saturday, Thursday, Friday, August20 September 11 October 21 November 19 Also see our listing of IICRC-approved technical seminars. * CleaningProfessor.com [email protected] (740)919-0228 Your instructor is Jeff Cross, senior editor of Cleanfax magazine. [email protected] Circle Product Information no. 253 www.cmmonline.com 35
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