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PPB
• JULY 2016
INNOVATE
Lehew notes. “Often, a customer
will come to you with a need for
a store—usually, they are trying
to resolve one particular pain
point—and not fully understand-
ing the entire organization’s
demand (hidden within all store
requests are not simply one pain
point but multiple pain points).
“This is normal, but it’s also
why a store is an organic process.
[It is] a sapling that, if nurtured
correctly, will grow into a large
oak, but it requires cooperation
with the customer,” he says.
HALO shares a similar nur-
turing approach to its clients’
company stores, says Campbell,
believing that support entails
more than facilitating traditional
dropship sales. “Our model is
much more than adding to the
bottom line directly from a single
program. Greater benefits are
gained by supporting the client’s
programs in order to become the
preferred or exclusive distributor.
This brings additional value to
our account executives as well as
to HALO,” he says.
Granata says most of his
company’s clients are looking to
control purchasing without
adding friction for the end buyer.
“This is typically accomplished
with payment methods such as
purchase orders, P-cards and, in
some cases, cost centers and
approval rules.”
Campbell adds that HALO
store clients often want to know
whether inventory can be stored
and made available on demand
to end users, whether products
can be changed, and what costs
are associated with fulfillment
services, website creation and
hosting.
“The most important thing is
to do a thorough needs analysis
and investigate the opportunity,”
says Halama. “It’s important for
distributors to qualify their com-
pany store opportunities. Not all
are profitable, because if the
client is too stringent, the distrib-
utor won’t make money.”
Hanchey agrees. “It all comes
down to asking the right ques-
tions from the start. Find out as
much information as you can so
you can determine if a company
store is going to be mutually
beneficial,” he says.
COMPANY STORES:
A DISTRIBUTOR’S TALE
PERRY WEHRLE, PRESIDENT OF
PAW Marketing, Inc. in
Des Moines, Iowa, and a member of the PPAI Board of
Directors, shares his experience providing company
stores to clients.
PPB
Describe your early experiences with company
stores. What type of store(s) were you helping
develop for clients, and what industry or industries
did those first clients operate in?
Wehrle
Early on we relied on and partnered with third-
party vendors who worked within our industry and were
well versed in what was needed to have an entry-level
online store. Our primary client was an insurance company
that embraced the co-op business model in which the
client paid for half of the cost of the item and the end
user—an insurance agent—paid for the other half. This
model allowed for very robust sales. After all, who would
not like to pay for
just half of any
promotional item?
PPB
What sorts
of challenges or
trial-and-error
moments can
you recall, and
how did you
remedy them
going forward?
Wehrle
Our biggest challenge is dealing with tight
deadlines. When an end user places an order at 3 pm
and believes that the order will be shipped at 3:05,
this just won’t happen. We are being pushed daily by
our client to provide a quicker turnaround time and, in
reality, it does take a few hours to accommodate stan-
dard orders. Sure, we get those rush orders, and we
do everything possible to make those events. But in
the end, communication is what we tell our clients is
important all the time.
PPB
What are clients’ most common concerns
about company store management and mainte-
nance, and how do you alleviate those concerns?
Wehrle
The first conversation we have is all about the
costs, here are some of the key points we cover: