MAYBE THE BEST way the booming office supplies industry can get to the elusive small office/ home office market is through a virtual company. So thinks Tom Graham, president and founder of AtYourOffice.com, a Washington, DC start-up which debuted in late August.
The company operates a Web site catering exclusively to the SOHO market through electronic arrangements with more than 40 independent distributors and suppliers. The site was built “very inexpensively” (it cost $500,000).
Graham admits he’s not trying to beat the world with this venture. “If we can get a .0004% market share we’d be satisfied.”
The site offers 26,000 office products and services, all available for next-day delivery. Graham says prices are much lower than those charged by other office products companies. “Because we don’t have the conventional brick-and-mortar storefront, we can centralize operations, cut prices and pass the savings on to customers.”
Besides distributors, the company has other partners that gain through profit-splitting with the site. For example, NationsBank processes customer credit card transactions.
Graham, a veteran of the software and interactive industries, got the idea to start this site after looking at the size of the office supplies market and realizing that SOHO was not being adequately served. He then got together with New York Web site developer Snickelways, which spotted flaws in his original model.
“I didn’t think his original business plan held water because it was too labor-intensive,” says Snickelways CEO Paul Cimino. The plan was reworked to rely on partnerships. Soon, Snickelways began creating the site, which also contains several back-end systems that enable AtYourOffice.com customer service representatives and partners to operate behind the scenes through dedicated, password-protected Web pages. From there, reps can track individual customer activities.
So far, Graham reports AtYourOffice.com is getting a lot of orders from smaller states like Idaho, but it’s also gotten some from California and New York. Just the same, he’s staying away from heavy advertising for the site. Instead, manufacturers such as Hammersmith Paper and file folder maker Smeal are spreading the word in their own promotional materials.
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