Supplies Network: Winning with More than Just Supplies

Tom Fleming, Founder

Supplies Network has come a long way since founder, Tom Fleming, recognized the business opportunity in selling replacement ribbons. Today, it is a global leader in the wholesale supply of imaging consumables, hardware and services and employs over 300 people in six locations across the U.S.

Supplies Network is headquartered just outside St. Louis, Missouri, and its distribution centers are located in St. Louis; Dallas, Texas; Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and Fresno, California. The Foreign Trade Zone facility is in Chicago, Illinois, which provides benefits for international shipments supporting Supplies Network as well as DM Fulfillment, their third-party fulfillment business.

Bill Erpelding, Director of Marketing

Reporting year over year double-digit revenue and increased margins, it’s no surprise that Supplies Network is pleased with the direction of their business. Bill Erpelding, director of marketing, said that they are seeing significant growth in their MPS, hardware and related services business.

“Naturally, we watch industry trends on many levels including OEMs, which helps us benchmark our business,” he explained. “Speaking generally, when comparing our trend-lines with those we see within the industry, we feel pretty good about where we are today and are bullish on our near-term future.”

Expanding Hardware Offerings

Erpelding said that the goal of Supplies Network is to become the clear choice as an imaging-focused distributor.

“We believe we will capture share by offering the most comprehensive product line in the industry combined with compelling solutions that help resellers simplify the management of the end-user print fleet while helping resellers profitably grow their imaging business,” he said.

In the last several years, Supplies Network has significantly increased their hardware offerings. Erpelding explained that the expansion of their MPS program has allowed them to capture additional hardware revenue because resellers are looking for them to help identify and replace problematic equipment in those environments. They have added personnel to assist in this endeavor.

“Today, we have a group of dedicated equipment advisors that are part of the same solution sales organization as our MPS Advisors,” said Erpelding. “They work hand-in-hand to help our partners address the customer’s needs and make recommendations based on the best offers available, including manufacturer programs and rebates. Additionally, our services portfolio now includes financial services and national printer installation services, which creates a turnkey sales opportunity for the reseller. This service has been very well received and has helped our partners close several national deals.”

Getting Ahead of the Curve

Supplies Network’s investments in their MPS program have resulted in what they call the most comprehensive offering available to resellers today. Erpelding noted that one of the biggest costs and challenges in MPS is supplies replenishment, and one of the key attributes of their services is authentic automation of this process. Supplies Network employs a predictive analytics-based service that determines the number of days of consumables remaining which is based on numerous variables to trigger automatic ordering of supplies.

“This feature is key to not only customer satisfaction, but also keeping overhead and operational cost low for the reseller,” explained Erpelding. “Beyond that, our portfolio of services is designed to simplify and overcome every challenge a reseller may face in successful, scalable execution of managed print.”

Greg Welchans, President & CMO

Those other services include supply routing labels, service monitoring, service desk, local device management, device installation, and device tracker. Erpelding said that device tracker addresses one of the most difficult processes of managing the print environment by proactively tracking when a new device is installed, goes stale, gets moved, or taken out of the fleet. In the past, he noted, this burdensome administrative process led to disruptions impacting revenue and customer satisfaction rates.

Additionally, Erpelding stated that their web portal, MyPrinterManager.com, is an essential component for supporting long-term customer satisfaction. He explained that it provides full visibility to the environment for both the reseller and the end-user customer and includes detailed information on device status, supplies shipments, service notifications, reporting tools and other benefits.
“Our range of services not only proactively manages devices and ships needed supplies based on predictive analytics, but also addresses a variety of needs customers may have,” he said.

Explained Erpelding, “For instance, an environment may have a large number of local devices which many programs cannot support. Our Local Device Management service allows resellers to include and support those devices in their overall solution. You may be dealing with a campus environment such as a hospital, university or a corporate campus. Our Supply Routing Labels allow each supply being shipped into the environment to be labeled with detailed delivery instructions, ensuring the supply is sent exactly where it’s needed.”

Reseller Marketing Support

Supplies Network’s reseller support extends way beyond device management though. They offer unique marketing capabilities that support their reseller’s most critical sales initiatives, such as a platform that provides the ability to easily create and send e-shots and automated tools for box inserts.

“Our Brand-on-Demand email marketing tool makes it easy for resellers to send branded email communications announcing promotions, programs, service announcements [or other messages] in just a few simple steps,” explained Erpelding. “Our Instant Inserts program allows resellers to send marketing collateral in their customers’ shipments. Through the use of print-on-demand technology, the messaging opportunity is limitless and messages can be tailored to specific customer types, industries or tied to specific product purchases.”

More Than Just Supplies

MPS is maturing at a rapid rate, but it continues to be the fastest growing part of Supplies Network’s business. Erpelding said that many resellers are now realizing that they can reap the benefits of Supplies Network’s experience as well as their significant investment in technology and people. He noted that they recently won the Managed Print Services Association Leadership award in the Infrastructure Provider category for the second time, and he believes that speaks volumes about their service level.

“We’re always adding to our services portfolio,” said Erpelding. “Our hardware-related services are largely designed to enhance the overall MPS experience and are available to transactional customers as well.”

Supplies Network has also expanded into thermal print supplies, adding Zebra, an industry leader in industrial and thermal printing. Erpelding pointed out that Zebra devices can be found in manufacturing plants, warehousing and distribution facilities, and all types of healthcare related facilities. Erpelding added that they are also in the process of launching a line of 3D filament from MakeShaper, a high-quality, U.S.-made product.

Sean Fleming, CEO

“Again, as an imaging-focused distributor, we recognized a large installed base of these buyers within our customer’s data and recognized another revenue opportunity for our partners,” emphasized Erpelding. “Often, these supplies are mission critical and represent another opportunity to add value to the relationship.”

For Supplies Network, it’s critical to diversify today because as Erpelding pointed out, the market demands it. He said that MPS and other related services have become mainstream, but he recalled that wasn’t the case when they began development of their service back in 2005.

“We took a pretty big leap of faith, making significant investments early on and over time we feel we’ve brought a lot of innovation to the market,” he said. “Those investments are now paying dividends. As mentioned earlier, MPS and related services are the fastest growing segment of our business.”

Ultimately, for Supplies Network, the goal is to help resellers of all types grow their business in the print category. They appear to be on the right path too because today they already offer one of the most comprehensive supplies product lines in the industry, a broad selection of equipment and related parts, and a highly compelling, award-winning MPS solution.