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OrderZone.com, online from 1999 to 2001 then re-launched in 2011, is an online business-to-business website for business products and services, allowing companies to purchase from multiple suppliers and processing transactions on the site. At one time, it was ranked as the #3 B2B website by Advertising Age’s Business Marketing. [1] [2]

History

OrderZone.com was originally launched in 1999 by the maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) company W. W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW), with participating supplier companies at this time being Grainger Industrial Supply, Cintas Corporation, Corporate Express, Inc., Lab Safety Supply, Marshall Industries, VWR International, Fastenal Company, and Motion Industries. [3] Each supplier covered a different product area, and by 2000 the site had more than 420,000 products in its database and was ranked as the #3 B2B website by Advertising Age’s Business Marketing. [4] W. W. Grainger's initial budget for the site was US$10 million. [5]

W. W. Grainger’s e-commerce strategy at this time aimed to create a digital business group that expanded their catalog (reaching more than 4,000 pages in length [6]) and allow buyers and sellers to buy and sell over the internet. Orderzone also allowed more prices to be listed, something that was not always possible in the print catalog. [7] At this time W. W. Grainger also released FindMRO.com, which specialized in sourcing hard to find products. [8] [9] There were also a number of other sites at this time trying to create online marketplaces for the MRO industry, including EqualFooting.com, iProcure, MarketSite, MRO.com, OnlineMRO.com, ProcureNet, PurchasingCenter.com and TPN Register. [10]

OrderZone.com did not generate as many paying customers as W. W. Grainger originally estimated, [11] and in 2000 the company was merged with Works.com, an office and technology products e-commerce business based in Austin, Texas, as part of a deal where 40% of Works.com was sold to W. W. Grainger for US$21 million. [12] OrderZone.com was then closed in 2001. [13]

OrderZone.com is now owned by a group of private investors, and was re-launched in 2011, [14] now operating out of Chicago, Illinois. [15] Key suppliers at this time were Fuji Electric, Airmaster Fan, IKO Bearings, IdealShield and Graymills. [16]

References

  1. ^ "Two Grainger(R) Web Sites Ranked in Top 200 B2B Sites: OrderZone.com(SM) Ranks No. 3 Grainger.com(R) Ranks in Top 50". PR Newswire. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  2. ^ "About OrderZone". OrderZone.com. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  3. ^ Magill, Ken (April 22, 1999). "Grainger, 5 Partners Set to Market Mega BTB Site". Direct Marketing News. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  4. ^ Segal, Bob (January–February 2000). "Online Marketplaces: OLMs signal changes for MRO distributors". Progressive Distributor.
  5. ^ Magill, Ken (April 22, 1999). "Grainger, 5 Partners Set to Market Mega BTB Site". Direct Marketing News. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  6. ^ Feder, Barnaby J. (September 22, 1999). "For This Supplier, the Sum of Its Parts Adds Up to Success". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  7. ^ Gardner, Elizabeth (February 2000). "A Supermiddleman" (PDF). The Pricing Advisor Newsletter: 7–8. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  8. ^ Segal, Bob (January–February 2000). "Online Marketplaces: OLMs signal changes for MRO distributors". Progressive Distributor.
  9. ^ "Two Grainger(R) Web Sites Ranked in Top 200 B2B Sites: OrderZone.com(SM) Ranks No. 3 Grainger.com(R) Ranks in Top 50". PR Newswire. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  10. ^ Segal, Bob (January–February 2000). "Online Marketplaces: OLMs signal changes for MRO distributors". Progressive Distributor.
  11. ^ "W.W. Grainger, Inc. - Strides into the New Millennium". International Directory of Company Histories. eNotes.com. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  12. ^ Ferguson, Kevin (2000-06-14). "Works.com, Grainger Swap Customers, Products". Forbes. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  13. ^ "About OrderZone". OrderZone.com. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  14. ^ "OrderZone.com Prepares to Launch, Seeks Alliances". PRWeb. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  15. ^ "OrderZone Contact Us page". OrderZone. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  16. ^ "Streamline the Procurement Process with ORDERZONE.COM". PRWeb. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

External links

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