Supplier Launches New E-Commerce Site for Easier Ordering

The Lipco Group, Branson, Mo., a supplier of promotional products, launched a new e-commerce site that circumvents the traditional supplier-distributor method. The new site features a stock of more than 11,000 products, and allows customers, like gift shops, to purchase directly from online.

The company said in a press release that its new website, www.lipco.biz, "provides the company's longtime buyers of wholesale gifts with a quicker, more seamless purchasing option, and is expected to bring in a new generation of customers who prefer e-commerce to more traditional purchasing methods, such as placing orders over the phone."

This is similar (although backward in format) to the new brick-and-mortar locations that Vistaprint opened, allowing customers to purchase custom printed products in a storefront setting.

Kevin Hampton, Lipco's operations manager, said in the press release that this isn't entirely a new concept for the company, as customers were able to purchase products online, but the updated website makes it easier and more accessible, indicating that its a direction the company hopes to move toward.

"We'll always have customers who prefer talking to one of our personnel that they've known for years when placing orders," Hampton said. "But having our up-to-date inventory available with so many options to search and filter is a huge benefit for our customer base as a whole."

Much of Lipco's inventory ends up in retail settings, such as gift shops, but this still relates to the growing change in the promotional product industry's normal way of doing business.

Do you think this will have an impact on the industry?