A cooperative society with over 500 members: Quantore's suppliers are connected via TIE software with their back-office.

1. XXxx
Quantore
Mission Quantore wants to be the best partner for
the office supplies trade in the Benelux countries. To
that end, Quantore offers its members the best deal
and assists them on their way to commercial success.
Vision Quantore is an organisation that has
been created by and for its members and which
promotes the interests of its members as best as
possible. Together with its members, Quantore ap-
proaches the market honestly and transparently.
Future The future offers a host of opportunities
and possibilities for continuing to grow into a
leader in efficiency. Optimum logistics and the use
of ICT and e-commerce will help to lower costs
further without compromising service and quality.
Marc Gijsberts (left) and Wilbert Hofmeester
Quantore’s new
warehouse in Beuningen

2. Text Cees Steijger ~ Photography Marcel R. Bakker
BUSINESS INTEGRATION
A cooperative society with over 500 members
Quantore reduces integral cost price
with e-commerce
Quantore Europe is the biggest stockist and purchasing and sales
organisation for office supplies in the Benelux. Quantore is a
cooperative society of more than five hundred office supplies
specialists, focussing on the private and business-to-business markets.
F
or more than 90 years, Quantore ers with products faster and easier. And suppliers are connected via TIE software
has been purchasing office supplies, Quantore continues to develop in the fields to our back-office. We send our members
and providing logistic and sales of e-commerce and automation too. “We and suppliers a fixed set of messages. For
support. Quantore focuses primarily on actively support our customers in ICT and members we call that TradelinQ, a set of
purchasing and logistics. By purchasing e-commerce in order to achieve more sales, XML messages that enable them to place
in bulk, Quantore can offer its members efficiency and distinctive capability in the orders from their own ERP back-office
good conditions that enable them to keep industry,” says Marc Gijsberts, who manages environment. For our sixty suppliers, the
their prices low. “We want our members the implementation of the standard is PBS Easy in EDIFACT format.
to be able to differentiate themselves in strategic information plan We are the central hub for all product and
the market both in terms of price and at Quantore. One of the article information that we release to the
product range and quality,” says Wilbert “Our features of this ambitious web systems, our own systems and our
Hofmeester, Marketing Manager at Quan- plan is the use of online customers’ systems.” At the moment, the
tore. We talked to him and to Quantore’s suppliers are technology in combina- Messaging Portal processes 50,000 mes-
ICT Manager Marc Gijsberts in Quan- tion with existing offline sages per year and it is expected that this
tore’s brand new offices and state-of-the- connected activities. number will rise considerably in the years
art distribution centre close to the A73 Quantore has been to come.
motorway in Beuningen, near Nijmegen. via TIE working with TIE Kinetix
This striking building, equipped with since 2006. The relation- Drop shipments Marc expects
the latest technology and systems, was software ship started when TIE that this rise will come mostly from an
designed by the Czech architect and artist Digital was taken over increase in the number of so-called drop
Borek Sipek, famous for his strikingly with our by TIE in the same year. shipments. These are web orders that are
colourful designs. Digital Channel has since received through the members’ webshops
Direct “In our logistics centre, there
back-office.” been incorporated into
TIE’s Content Syndication
and delivered directly to the end-user by
Quantore. This enables Quantore to re-
are more than fifteen thousand products Platform (CSP). Quantore duce the integral cost price. “In the supply
ready to be sent to our members or directly to the custom- then also started to use chain, the cost of stocking at two locations
er,” says Wilbert. “We can stock up to 23,000 articles in our the TIE Messaging Portal, is, by definition, higher than distributing
modern warehouse.” Quantore deploys the latest technol- to which all of its suppli- from one central location. Customers who
ogy and insights to provide its members and their custom- ers are connected. “Our supply from their own stock pay more
TIE ~ 2/2010 ~ P5

3. BUSINESS INTEGRATION
Quantore stocks up to
23,000 articles
than if they use drop shipments. Our customers choice is of- In Quantore’s experi- rest’. And perhaps in the online era, we’ll
ten based on geographical arguments as to whether they will ence, the number of orders have to do more.”
deliver from their own warehouse or use drop shipments. increases almost immedi-
It’s up to them.” “We took a critical look at our members’ ately after members have NEXT DAY And meanwhile competi-
ICT needs,” adds Marc. “Then we put together a number of switched to e-commerce. tors are not exactly standing idle. Marc
back-office solutions that members can use as they need. For Orders received by and Wilbert are putting a lot of work into
example, we offer our members webshops in which they do Quantore have now been helping their customers on their way and
not need to use the same applications as everyone else.” increasing by 10% year increasing acceptance of the online ap-
after year. “Of course our proach. And they are not shrinking from
Chain marketing Quantore’s approach focuses customers and end-users CSP either. “If we want to keep to our 10%
squarely on chain marketing. Quantore not only looks after have to get used to the yearly growth, we’ll have to speed up dis-
joint advertising such as folders, catalogues and promotional fact that when you order tribution,” says Wilbert. “At the moment,
materials but also provides its members something online you can customers must still place their orders for
“Orders
with up-to-date product information no longer say ‘and throw drop shipment before 5.30 p.m. but this
for use in workshops, and all the email in a box of those envelopes deadline is constantly being extended and
received by
marketing tools that they might need for that we always have’,” says the end-user will still receive his goods
an effective campaign. For this they use Wilbert. “The webshop the next day.”
TIE Kinetix’ CSP, which is called Supplies isn’t enough in itself. So if
Channel at Quantore. “This smart market- Quantore you want to stop the end- INNOVATIONS “And,” adds Marc,
ing tool enables us to manage customers’ user from dropping out pointing to his HTC, “we’re also using
websites centrally and to provide them have now on his first visit, you have Twitter. If there’s a TV commercial for
with up-to-date information at the press to make it easy for him. one of our offers, we link that to Twitter,
of a button,” says Marc. “The advantage of been in- By including a favourites where you can read more about it. This
this is that the customer doesn’t have to list, for example. We also is how we want to handle communities
bother with it. We manage databases for creasing by help our customers with and niche groups.” Hmm, a Twitter alert
professional email campaigns and we sup- Search Engine Optimali- could be handy! Soon we will see iPod
ply ready-to-go newsletters that can be 10% year zation (SEO). Our slogan widgets, of course. When it comes down
adapted to the individual situation, either has always been: ‘You do to it, you’re either a business innovator or
with or without 1st line support.” after year.” the selling and we’ll do the you’re not.
P6 ~ 2/2010 ~ TIE