Thinking Ahead: Activant B2B Seller Offers Plumbing and Electric Supply Distributor Ability to Serve Customers Around the Clock

Customers responded enthusiastically when City Plumbing and Electric unveiled www.cpesupply.com, its B2B Seller site - even though they never requested the ability to check price and availability, order status, or account information online.

"We do our best to beat customers to the punch," relates systems manager Roger Moore. "There wasn't a huge demand for this kind of access to information when we rolled out our site. But now that it's available, a lot of our customers use it to access their account information."

B2B Seller provides distributors with a fully hosted and integrated Web-based storefront solution that services their existing and prospective customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A component of Trading Partner Connect, Activant's Internet trading network, B2B Seller allows distributors to offer extensive product and account information via the Web - instead of through customer service representatives.

"B2B Seller definitely saves our staff hours each month," Moore says. "We especially see a time savings at statement time. Customers aren't calling for extra copies of invoices and other documents in the same volume they used to. Now, they just go online to get that stuff themselves."

A 24-Hour Sales Rep

City Plumbing and Electric's name reflects its offerings, and the company's customers are largely contractors and subcontractors who spend long days at job sites. "Some of our customers have office staff who call us during normal business hours to place orders and ask about prices," says Moore. "But a lot of the people we work with are their own accountants, file clerks, and purchasing agents."

Because electricians and plumbers often arrive at their home offices after 5 p.m., www.cpesupply.com experiences heavy traffic between 6 and 7 p.m. "We see people visiting the site at that time, getting information that before would have to wait until the next business day," Moore says. "We're happy we're able to get them this information now. Our B2B Seller site is really paying off. It's like we hired a 24-hour-a-day sales rep."

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