The needs of consumers are changing constantly, and United Stationers says it's working hard to keep up with them.

The needs of consumers are changing constantly, and United Stationers says it's working hard to keep up with them. Rich Aievoli, vice president of category management for the company's furniture division, says United Stationers has remained one of the largest suppliers of wholesale office furniture through many shifts in customer needs by making the last link of the supply chain its first priority. This focus, combined with the company's broad selection and ability to deliver quickly, keeps United Stationers at the forefront of the wholesale office furniture market as well as the office supply market as a whole, he says.

Aievoli says United Stationers faces pressure not only from consumer trends, but also from overseas competition that tries to undercut the company on price. He says the company has had to focus on the final consumer of its products as well as adopt high-tech methods of supply management to stay on top. United Stationers also offers resellers a number of added services that Aievoli says give the company an extra advantage.

United Stationers, based in Des Plaines, Ill., is North America's largest wholesale distributor of business products and office supplies, with sales of about $4 billion across the entire company. The company's 68 regional distribution centers stock more than 50,000 items, including business technology, office supplies, janitorial supplies, foodservice supplies and office furniture. Customers number more than 20,000, and include office supply dealers, retail stores, mail-order companies, grocery stores and Internet merchants. Aievoli says furniture has been a "constant" in the company's sales mix, and the division has grown steadily in recent years.

"United Stationers is by far the largest distributor of office furniture to the reseller tree," Aievoli says.

Moving Forward, Backward
The company's consumer focus helped it grow even in a recession in the office furniture market that United Stationers and others were recovering from when Aievoli joined the company in 2003, he says. The new focus was just part of a companywide restructuring that included a renewed emphasis on strategic relationships and a new global sourcing initiative. For the furniture division, the consumer focus became one of the most important factors in helping it grow, Aievoli says.

"The approach we take today is that we look at the consumer first, and we work our way back through the suppliers," he says. Instead of just sitting back and taking orders from customers and receiving stock from suppliers, United Stationers now conducts its own research into consumer demands and then gives suppliers "a sense of what we're looking for," Aievoli says.

To conduct this research, United Stationers turns to third-party research companies, but also collects data from resellers and consumer focus groups. Aievoli says keeping tabs on what consumers want most is important these days because of what he calls "value migration."

For example, in times when the economy is at a low point and companies don't have as much capital to spend, the price of office furniture becomes the most important factor in their purchases, and companies should alter their product lines to feature more modestly priced items, Aievoli says. Consumers would then be willing to buy furniture that wasn't as functional or comfortable in order to save money. At other times, functionality or comfort might be more important, and consumers would be willing to spend more on items that better fit those needs.

‘Built For Speed'
Aievoli says that United Stationers is "built for speed" and capable of delivering orders the next day, thanks to its technologically enhanced infrastructure. The company has 11 million square feet of distribution capacity across the country, and because of that it ships 98 percent of orders the same day they are received. More than 90 percent of all orders are delivered the next day, Aievoli says.

United Stationers has made a significant investment in new technology to help it meet the changing needs of its customers, and Aievoli notes that 90 percent of orders are taken electronically over the Internet. Aievoli says the company is especially proud of its new "Pick-to-Voice" system used in its distribution centers. The system eliminates paper-based order selection and replaces it with a voice-activated scanner that allows employees to quickly fill an order while automatically updating inventory.

Aievoli says the company's trucks are dispatched all day and all night, and that it has a "robust" special order program that helps facilitate orders of items not in stock. The company can also package products for customers and send them directly to the end consumer, or package and label them for customers to deliver to consumers themselves. In both cases, United Stationers packages the orders so that they look as if they came directly from the dealer.

Added Value
The office furniture market is crowded, Aievoli says; therefore, United Stationers has to offer added services to make it stand apart from other distributors. He says that in addition to monitoring what end-consumers want, the company also pays close attention to the types of services resellers and other customers want from United Stationers.

Aievoli says United Stationers provides customers with support in several different areas, including marketing, customer service and local representation.

The company's marketing support features an account-acquisition program aimed at helping customers target and reach the segments of consumers they can benefit from most. Its account retention program includes specially priced catalogs and merchandise aimed at helping customers keep the accounts they have. United Stationers also offers its customers regular workshops designed to help dealers improve their skills in such areas as customer care, finance and managing salespeople.

A More Flexible Future
An influx of imported products has placed pressure on United Stationers from resellers to lower prices. Aievoli says this "downward pressure" on prices has become a major concern in recent years. "We're competing more in a global economic environment in the furniture industry, as well," he says. For this reason in particular, Aievoli says United Stationers must stay on top of consumers' needs and proactive in meeting them.

"I think we've got to be more flexible and strategic in our thinking," he says. In the future, Aievoli says he wants United Stationers to become leaner and take advantage of economies of scale when buying from suppliers. He says adopting a more customizable approach to servicing customers can help distributors from being run out of business. He adds retailers should reinvest into their own businesses to improve customer service and other processes before they see consumers drift away.