This blog is where I rough draft ideas and books, and sometimes I throw an idea up there to develop more later. The mention of uline.com below is point I left undeveloped, and a reader called me on it.
Says Amy, "John, can you elaborate more on how ULINE is doing things right? It seems like it's just like any other web-based businesses. "
So now on this cold early Monday morning, I get back to it.
First, it is not a web-based business. Never has been, never will be. Back in the day, import-export businesses (as well as any other company shipping) had as regular visitors packaging supplies salespeople. They were always dropping by with the latest gadget, improved tapes and labels, and a sale on some type of boxes, or whatever. Every year or so, the salespeople would drop off a catalog of shipping supplies, some stock items, some special order. And when some unique problem came up, we'd go to the phone book, look up box dealers, make some calls, and come up with a solution. Salespeople came by so often even to such small companies as the ones I worked for that I recall the name Bill Gunning, NW Shipping Supplies (as well as John Tierney, SeaLand Services for Ocean Shipping.) Forty years later!
What uline.com has done, is change nothing except to combine the phone book, the catalog, the phone into one website. And just like 40 years ago, they still, to this day, print and send out (now millions) of catalogs. It is the paper catalog of products in stock in their brick and mortar warehouses regionally located that drives the sales. The internet does not drive the sales. The paper catalog points to an online order desk.
In a busy warehouse, a manager can grab a uline catalog and find what he wants much faster than surfing the internet (even if uline is bookmarked), and then call or email after a decision, like an abacus can beat a calculator every time.
If you cannot find what you want in the catalog, you can email, Internet Relay Chat, or phone in 24/7 and work with a live person. The new thing here is 24/7 access, as opposed to 40 years ago it was maybe 8-4:30, M-F.
On the other end of whatever means of communication you select will be an extremely well trained salesperson, who can walk you through any and all solutions sold by uline. I say it that way because uline.com does zero special orders, and no special projects. They either stock it, or no. If not, look elsewhere. Strictly commodity style supplies. And there are plenty of custom packaging houses out there, competing on design, not price.
And uline's prices are great. I used to work the coupons and sales at Office Depot to game their system to get the best prices, but as uline began to emerge nationwide I could see their prices beat Office Depot at Office Depot's best. And, I will tell you, buying as a business from uline is far easier than Office Depot as a retail customer. Every time I go to Office Depot there is the ordeal of whatever the current dotcom/website combo tactic is being employed to save the company. Office Depot is a study of a company being crushed by competition.
Now, once you place your order uline, you elect delivery means... as far as I can tell, uline.com has no delivery trucks. Everything is delivered by common carrier, UPS, Fedex, Truckers, whoever. Or more commonly, my guess is for 80% of uline sales, businesses send in their own trucks to pick up the shipping supplies. Uline.com warehouses have a busy will-call dock. So this would be a difference today too... delivery is either farmed out or will call, no more trucks run by shipping supply houses.
As part of an academic project, I wanted to speak with salesperson on the challenges of packing for export, in a general way. Their salespeople are available to sell products, not to discuss academic questions. When I picked up my goods, I gave the loading dock clerk my university card and complained how it is impossible to reach a salesperson.
About a week later I got a call from the warehouse manager. We had a nice chat, and I became further impressed by their no-nonsense focus on what matters.
If the internet went down tomorrow, uline would not miss a beat. There would be telephones, paper catalogs, and a warehouse full of shipping supplies.
So, to review:
1. A brick and mortar business that depends on printed catalogs mailed out to stay in business.
2. A website that acts as an order desk, with tele-help.
3. Uline bills and you pay the old fashioned way, a check in the mail (who wants to give 2.25% to credit card companies?)
4. A simple website. I would like to meet their coders, since it is otherwise impossible to find anyone who will write good business website code. Note there is no flash, animations, nothing fancy, about as close to ink on a piece of paper as you can accomplish on the web. Simple clean code is at once more robust and loads faster. Since my guess nearly 96.4% or business website designers are scamming you as to the value of a website, they add on all that crap to divert their client from the point of a website. In a combination of "labor theory of value" and dazzling lights business people fork over money for websites that do not pay.
Uline's tough, clear approach pays for them. I pity their competitors who are trying to compete using the web.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
Says Amy, "John, can you elaborate more on how ULINE is doing things right? It seems like it's just like any other web-based businesses. "
So now on this cold early Monday morning, I get back to it.
First, it is not a web-based business. Never has been, never will be. Back in the day, import-export businesses (as well as any other company shipping) had as regular visitors packaging supplies salespeople. They were always dropping by with the latest gadget, improved tapes and labels, and a sale on some type of boxes, or whatever. Every year or so, the salespeople would drop off a catalog of shipping supplies, some stock items, some special order. And when some unique problem came up, we'd go to the phone book, look up box dealers, make some calls, and come up with a solution. Salespeople came by so often even to such small companies as the ones I worked for that I recall the name Bill Gunning, NW Shipping Supplies (as well as John Tierney, SeaLand Services for Ocean Shipping.) Forty years later!
What uline.com has done, is change nothing except to combine the phone book, the catalog, the phone into one website. And just like 40 years ago, they still, to this day, print and send out (now millions) of catalogs. It is the paper catalog of products in stock in their brick and mortar warehouses regionally located that drives the sales. The internet does not drive the sales. The paper catalog points to an online order desk.
In a busy warehouse, a manager can grab a uline catalog and find what he wants much faster than surfing the internet (even if uline is bookmarked), and then call or email after a decision, like an abacus can beat a calculator every time.
If you cannot find what you want in the catalog, you can email, Internet Relay Chat, or phone in 24/7 and work with a live person. The new thing here is 24/7 access, as opposed to 40 years ago it was maybe 8-4:30, M-F.
On the other end of whatever means of communication you select will be an extremely well trained salesperson, who can walk you through any and all solutions sold by uline. I say it that way because uline.com does zero special orders, and no special projects. They either stock it, or no. If not, look elsewhere. Strictly commodity style supplies. And there are plenty of custom packaging houses out there, competing on design, not price.
And uline's prices are great. I used to work the coupons and sales at Office Depot to game their system to get the best prices, but as uline began to emerge nationwide I could see their prices beat Office Depot at Office Depot's best. And, I will tell you, buying as a business from uline is far easier than Office Depot as a retail customer. Every time I go to Office Depot there is the ordeal of whatever the current dotcom/website combo tactic is being employed to save the company. Office Depot is a study of a company being crushed by competition.
Now, once you place your order uline, you elect delivery means... as far as I can tell, uline.com has no delivery trucks. Everything is delivered by common carrier, UPS, Fedex, Truckers, whoever. Or more commonly, my guess is for 80% of uline sales, businesses send in their own trucks to pick up the shipping supplies. Uline.com warehouses have a busy will-call dock. So this would be a difference today too... delivery is either farmed out or will call, no more trucks run by shipping supply houses.
As part of an academic project, I wanted to speak with salesperson on the challenges of packing for export, in a general way. Their salespeople are available to sell products, not to discuss academic questions. When I picked up my goods, I gave the loading dock clerk my university card and complained how it is impossible to reach a salesperson.
About a week later I got a call from the warehouse manager. We had a nice chat, and I became further impressed by their no-nonsense focus on what matters.
If the internet went down tomorrow, uline would not miss a beat. There would be telephones, paper catalogs, and a warehouse full of shipping supplies.
So, to review:
1. A brick and mortar business that depends on printed catalogs mailed out to stay in business.
2. A website that acts as an order desk, with tele-help.
3. Uline bills and you pay the old fashioned way, a check in the mail (who wants to give 2.25% to credit card companies?)
4. A simple website. I would like to meet their coders, since it is otherwise impossible to find anyone who will write good business website code. Note there is no flash, animations, nothing fancy, about as close to ink on a piece of paper as you can accomplish on the web. Simple clean code is at once more robust and loads faster. Since my guess nearly 96.4% or business website designers are scamming you as to the value of a website, they add on all that crap to divert their client from the point of a website. In a combination of "labor theory of value" and dazzling lights business people fork over money for websites that do not pay.
Uline's tough, clear approach pays for them. I pity their competitors who are trying to compete using the web.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
1 comments:
Wow - a post just to answer my question! :) Thanks so much for the clarification, John - always love reading your insights!
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