HARDWARE GIANT W.W. Grainger, Chicago, has teamed up with six partners in an attempt to become a one-stop cybershop for the less glamorous items it takes to keep businesses running.
In May, the $4.3 billion wholesaler, retailer and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operating supplies will debut www.orderzone.com. Grainger believes the greater efficiencies the site enables should make Orderzone.com the premier supplier of these products, notes Jim Roots, marketing director of the firm’s Internet commerce division.
“I can’t predict savings for individuals, but the centralization of functions will save customers 40% in administrative costs,” he says.
Grainger has made arrangements with six companies offering products ranging from industrial uniforms to computer supplies: Lab Safety Supply, Cintas, VWR Scientific Products Corp., Corporate Express Inc., Marshall Industries and PC Software.
Simplified Ordering Users will be asked to register, after which they’ll be able to order from all six companies using just one order form. Live customer service representatives will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to assist consumers.
Grainger plans to begin advertising the site close to the projected launch date, most likely through mailings to the 5 million or so combined customers of all partners.
Roots declines to predict Orderzone.com’s performance or the degree to which Grainger will move its business online. He did stress, however, that the company wants to cash in on the $1.6 trillion market for B-to-B online commerce Forrester Research forecasts by 2003.
Roots isn’t worried about cannibalization from its original site, www.grainger.com. That’s grown from a text-only information site in 1995 to an e-commerce location the company previously said it hoped would account for a fifth of its business by next year.
The site offers some 190,000 products, from electrical supplies and motors to tools, as well as cleaning supplies and other goods that also will be available on Orderzone.com.
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