Nationwide Launches Seamless Warehousing and Member Fulfillment System

Furniture World Magazine

Nationwide Marketing Group, LLC, a leading independent appliance, electronics and furniture marketing group in the United States, has introduced a seamless warehousing and fulfillment system that allows its member retailers to order either directly from the manufacturers or through Nationwide using Nationwide's exclusive, secure MemberNet Web site. "The new MemberNet-based Order Management System (OMS) is a giant step forward because of the ease and speed of it all," Ed Kelly, President/Director of Nationwide, said. "The new system uses Nationwide's existing MemberNet OMS to link independent retailers directly with select appliance, electronics and furniture manufacturers, and most orders can be shipped for delivery the next day. Our promise is to deliver to 95 percent of the United States within two days." Les Kirk, Executive Vice President, noted that Nationwide's team designed the MemberNet OMS system to act as a central hub, allowing Nationwide's retail partners to go to the Internet to order appliances, electronics and furniture any time of the day or night. "This system benefits everybody, from the largest to the smallest retailer. Nationwide members can use the system to order products from a variety of leading manufacturers," Kirk said. "We have pulled it all together for our members. Once orders are placed via the OMS system, it seamlessly connects manufacturers and fulfillment systems all over the country, pulls from the appropriate warehouses, and ships immediately," Kirk said. "We will continue to add more warehousing and fulfillment networks as the system evolves" Kirk said members formerly called orders into Nationwide via phone, a system called Direct Plus. "We've had Direct Plus in place for more than a decade. Now, we're taking it to a new level. Under this system, Nationwide members can go online and place all of their orders at one time instead of having to go to several venues to place orders." Kelly noted that Nationwide has staff dedicated full-time to assist its members in placing orders and help them master the new system. "We always are looking for ways to create greater efficiency and are able to greatly streamline the process for our member retailers using the new Internet ordering system," Kelly added. "Another huge benefit to our member retailers is that the new OMS system allows them to view the manufacturers inventories online, something that they could not do using the old Direct Plus phone system." Robert Weisner, Executive Vice President, added that "Our goal is to help Nationwide's member retailers devote more time to doing what they do best - spending time with customers selling appliances, electronics and furniture instead of spending time on the phone placing orders," he said. " We hope to have most of our retail partners up and running on the new OMS system within a year. We believe they quickly will embrace the Internet-based OMS system." Nationwide Marketing Group, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., has more than 2,400 retail partners representing more than 6,000 storefronts across the United States. Nationwide is the largest appliance, electronics and furniture marketing group in the country and offers the most comprehensive range of marketing services to its members in the industry.