Success Stories

onlineofficesupplies.com

In 1998, the founder of Online Office Supplies Company (OOSC) determined that only a small percentage of office supply purchases were being made online. While the major retailers had web sites, they were geared to drive foot traffic to their stores or to allow customers to register for paper-based catalogs. Fears regarding cannibalization, site maintenance, the number of potential accounts and varying price structures presented large obstacles for traditional office supply superstores trying to develop an Internet strategy. Traditional catalog-based retailers were not meeting the needs of manufacturers, as it could take up to 18 months for a new product to be featured in a catalog.

Given the size of the potential market and industry analysts' forecasts of growth, OOSC engaged us to design, build and deploy an innovative online office supply superstore. We worked in tandem with OOSC's partner, United Stationers, to develop and implement an integrated order fulfillment process. Since this partner lacked the internal expertise to develop new Internet technology, we used an electronic data interchange model to transfer orders to the fulfillment center and obtain customer order information.

The initial site was deployed in only 14 weeks and onlineofficesupplies.com helped transform the office supply procurement process for small businesses, home offices and corporate customers.

Our solution for onlineofficesupplies.com was recognized recently as "Best Electronic Commerce Solution of the Year" at Microsoft's worldwide business symposium for Microsoft Certified Solutions Providers. The entry was chosen from more than 450 solutions submitted by a worldwide community of 19,500 Microsoft Certified Solutions Providers.

Where does this innovative company go next? OOSC plans to leverage its award-winning architecture by partnering with major customers and office supplies distributors to build and operate their online order fulfillment.