SCHOOL SPECIALTY INC., a direct marketer of school supplies, has launched a Web site through which it hopes to eventually conduct a third of its business.
Classroom Direct.com (www.classroomdirect.com), the Appleton, WI firm’s first online venture, debuted in January. The objective: to sell non-textbook products to schools and school districts, and to reach teachers and parents, says chairman/CEO Dan Spalding.
The company markets traditional supplies to more than 3 million teachers and curriculum specialists nationwide through its catalogs, which have an annual circulation of 10 million.
The site is expected to save the company 20% on the cost of processing orders (compared with those generated through the catalogs). If School Specialty reaches its goal of doing a third of its business online, that will substantially reduce costs, Spalding says.
School Specialty processes some 200,000 orders a year, selling to roughly 85% (about 108,000) of the schools in the United States.
Enhancements Due In May, the site will be expanded to include more subject-specific offers than those now online. ClassroomDirect.com will be promoted through catalog mailings, print ads and Web banners to home-school families, Bible school directors, youth pastors, the Christian family market, parents and grandparents.
Spalding is pinning much of his hopes for the site on a study indicating that each teacher spends about $445 of his or her own money each year on classroom materials-for an aggregate total of $1 billion. Further, parents of the approximately 52 million students in public and private schools spend, on average, some $50 to $75 per student for supplies.
“Sales of traditional supplies to the education market are estimated to be $6.1 billion annually,” he says. “However, there are vast incremental sales opportunities that we intend to capitalize on as a result of our growing Internet capabilities.”
Just the same, Spalding stresses that School Specialty isn’t looking to cut out either the catalogs or its sales force.
At press time the company was planning to acquire SmartStuff, a Portland, OR developer of security software for the education market, for $8.3 million.
Smith-Gardner & Associates developed the site.
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