A Profitable Enterprise Pens, pencils, paper clips and note pads aren't the first products most print distributors think about when looking to diversify. "The perception of office products is that they're low margin and not worth going after," says Dave Pydlek, channel manager for forms and print at United Stationers Inc., Des Plaines, Ill. "In fact, distributors can enjoy margins in the low 20s to upper 30s. There's a learning curve, though, because most salespeople need to sell a process and not a product." In other words, distributors acting as single-source suppliers stand to gain the most business from their clients. United Stationers and Reno, Nev.-based software supplier e-Quantum have made it easier for distributors to do just that. The companies' supply-chain partnership allows distributors to process orders seamlessly through an e-commerce platform accessed by end users. "There really is no focus on paper clips, etc.," Pydlek says. "Those are product code numbers that go through an electronic model. It's that combined with everything else bought from the distributor that truly makes it valuable to the end user." e-Quantum offers an e-commerce platform through its Quantum Net (Q-Net) software system. Q-Net allows distributors to sell products to end users through a custom web-based portal. When end users log onto the web site to place an order, they can choose from different categories of products, such as forms, promotional products, business cards and banners. The partnership between e-Quantum and United Stationers led to the addition of an office products category. When an end user buys office products from participating distributors, the order is sent to United Stationers, which drop ships products directly to the customer with the distributor's label. In the past, distributors often received the client's order and then manually reentered it as a purchase order to the vendor. End users and distributors are pressured to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve efficiency. To end users, this means reducing the number of vendors with whom they work. For distributors, it means offering a complete set of business print, promotional and office product solutions while still turning a profit. "In our industry, you've got a transaction-intensive product that really lends itself to an integrated model," Pydlek says. "If you tried to sell pens and pencils, inks and toners, by themselves and not through an electronic model, it would be hard to make any money." An e-commerce solution not only makes selling office product profitable, it increases distributors' value to their customers, which makes it easier to retain the account. "What we're trying to do is allow distributors to have strong technology relationships with their client base," says Ross Barker, CEO of e-Quantum. "That will allow them to be the power broker in their client bases, as opposed to their competition." Have a solution? Click here to be featured as an E-Weekly Solution of the Week