10/29/2012 3:11:00 PM
Tacoma Screw Launching E-Commerce Website to Sell Nationally
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT – At midnight November 1, 2012, Tacoma Screw Products Inc. will launch a new website aimed at selling fasteners nationwide.
The Pacific Northwest distributor seeks to expand beyond its 15 physical locations.
“We’ve had two years of significant investment,” said Michael Howard, Tacoma Screw marketing and credit services manager told the Bellingham Herald.
Howard knew from food and agriculture customers that Tacoma Screw needed to be able to sell after traditional weekday hours.
Executive adviser John Wolfe noted Tacoma Screw had a website, but no e-commerce.
So two years ago Tacoma Screw hired Gary Myers away from a property management company to lead a half million dollar IT effort.
Wolfe emphasizes that the e-commerce business will not change the heart of Tacoma Screw. “We are a brick and mortar company that now has an e-commerce capability,” he told reporter C.R. Roberts of the Herald.
There will be changes, Howard said. “One of the things this will do – for instance, Stanley Tools,” said Howard. “We will continue to carry those items in inventory, and the goal is to carry the entire line. We want to bring the entire line to the Web store.”
Stanley products from heavy duty soldering guns to flexible socket drivers or hex nut sleeve anchors and malleable bevel washers – were photographed, weighed and measured for online marketing and shipping.
The online capability will give Tacoma Screw more knowledge about sales. “We’ll have intelligence we’ve never had before,” said e-commerce manager Eric McGregor. “It’s going to give us hard numbers on product lines.”
The current website attracts primarily West Coast customers. The new portal will allow real-time orders and shipping. Captured data will indicate promising geographic areas where Tacoma Screw may want to add brick-and-mortar presence.
Already, he says, customers send photos and even rough sketches of products they need.
“People call things by different names in different parts of the country,” Howard told the Herald. “There is a myriad of industry-specific names and a lot of slang.”
Founded in 1946, Tacoma Screw has 40,000 business customers for 45,000 products, including fasteners, tools and maintenance shop supplies. There are 200 employees. Tacoma Screw is headquartered at 2001 Center St., Tacoma, WA 98409-7895. Tel: 253 572-3444 or 800 562-8192 Fax 253 272-2719 E-mail: info@tacomascrew.com
Editor’s Note: Articles in Media Spotlight are excerpts from publications or broadcasts, which show the industry what the public is reading or hearing about fasteners and fastener companies. ©2012 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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