Consumer portal protects The Uttermost Company’s distribution Channel
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Rocky Mount, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts – The Uttermost
Company, an industry leader in wall décor and portable lighting and PLMresearch,
a leading Small to Midsize Business (SMB) eBusiness consulting firm, will
launch the first phase of its Internet based customer service portal system
designed to facilitate the administrative needs of Uttermost’s sales channel.
“The Consumer Portal is available to anyone interested in The Uttermost
Company and its products, stated Mark Withington, Principal of PLMresearch. The
site offers a complete, up-to-date catalog for product research and selection,
a “closest Uttermost retailer” locator and answers to Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ).
“We’re very excited about the opportunities that the Internet poses for
Uttermost, but are not losing sight of its limitations”, stated Mac
Cooper, President of the Uttermost Company. “Some companies have dabbled
with going direct to the consumer”, Cooper added, “not Uttermost.
Our Consumer Portal will “push the consumer” toward our established retailers”.
“PLMresearch worked very closely with us to ensure the technology protected
our distribution channel”, said Cooper. “We’re even developing a program
to offer “Internet connectors” from our Portal to our approved retailers
websites”.
“The Internet connectors will be a Web Service available to any Uttermost
retailer, whether their site is eCommerce enabled or not”, explained Withington. “Web
Services link computer systems together without the need of human intervention
– very much the direction that Business-to-Business (B2B) computing is heading
today”.
This is the first of three releases for the Portal. Future releases will
offer Uttermost’s retail dealers password protected access to a complete,
up-to-date catalog that lists wholesale prices, useful retail selling information,
access to a best sellers list, suggested complimentary items that have sold
well in their region, see their sales order history/status and even
place new orders on the factory. Finally, Uttermost’s independent sales
representatives will also have password-protected access to the Portal which
will list their sales history as well as the sales history for each of the
representative’s dealers. Additional feature will include the ability to
place new orders on the factory, create ad hoc “personalized” catalogs, and
place Hold For Confirmation (HFC) orders.
About The Uttermost Company
The Uttermost Company is the largest manufacturer of framed
mirrors servicing retail stores in the United States, and one of the largest
manufacturers of framed prints, decorative plaques, oil reproductions and
portable lighting. The name Uttermost is taken from Acts 1:8, and expresses
both a personal belief and the company’s marketing plan to spread the gospel
and sell its products "to the uttermost parts of the earth".
Founded in 1975 by Bob and Belle Cooper, Uttermost is still
100% family owned today. Its culture is founded on the concept of mutual
respect for all of its partners in business: from the person in their plant
running a mitre saw to the retailer who selects and merchandises that perfect
mirror, “we’re all dependent on each other”.
Today’s Uttermost has grown to include over 300 employees
at the factory in Virginia, 120 sales representatives and thousands of retail
partners throughout the world. Its growth is primarily due to their commitment
to three things–superior service to retailers, maximizing the value of its
products, and treating its employees and sales representatives as partners
in business.
About PLMresearch
PLMresearch assists midsize enterprises evaluate, design and deploy cost
effective eBusiness initiatives - Internet technology that automates their
current inter-business processes.
PLMresearch works with its clients to help them understand how the Internet
can leverage their current internal IT systems such as Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) and Materials Resource Planning (MRP), to accelerate sales
and marketing channels, promote product design collaboration, foster materials
sourcing and facilitate supply chain management.
PLMresearch is a privately held company founded by Mark Withington in 2000. It
is a virtual organization of principles whose background covers application,
database and web design, security, systems administration, and business process
consulting.
The company is a strong advocate of the open source movement and is a frequent contributor
to the foundries and forums of the packages that it uses. It feels that
the flexibility and low cost that open source provides promotes vendor
independence and therefore reinforces PLMresearch’s position as a trusted
technical advisor to its clients.
