ATLANTA Oct. 16, 2000 FacilityPro.com on Monday unveiled new features that will give customers of its online marketplace the ability to analyze their purchasing histories, track orders from EDI-enabled suppliers and select among various billing and payment methods.
FacilityPro.com is an e-marketplace where commercial facility and property management professionals can purchase MRO goods and services. The site also offers industry news and other content features.
Net marketplaces have been expanding the variety of value-added features and services they offer as one way to build customer loyalty in the rough-and-tumble world of online commerce. FacilityPro says it added the new features announced Monday in response to feedback from its customers.
The FacilityPro.com marketplace now provides detailed purchasing history reports that are accessible online. Facility managers can specify their own unique time periods for analysis, allowing them, for instance, to track a specific product category over a monthly or quarterly period of time. These reports can assist managers in monitoring their organizations' budgets and their purchasing compliance with strategic suppliers.
Additional enhancements allow customers to electronically track their orders by viewing shipping acknowledgments coming directly from their suppliers' EDI systems into the FacilityPro.com online marketplace. Using this feature, customers can track an order's location in the supply chain. FacilityPro.com also provides users the ability to access FedEx/UPS shipment tracking systems and to find the status of shipments with these carriers without leaving the FacilityPro.com marketplace.
FacilityPro.com has also introduced enhanced credit card processing options and tax calculation capabilities. Customers can choose the billing and payment method that is most convenient for them. All sales tax information is calculated and shown within the online requisition process so that accurate invoice totals are available as a part of the purchase order request process.
FacilityPro.com says its marketplace will now provide improved content as well, including industry specific news and articles, and discussion forums that provide facilities professionals with information to help them in the performance of their jobs and keep current on facilities management trends and issues.
The FacilityPro.com marketplace allows customers to personalize the marketplace functionality and information based on an individual's specific job responsibilities and preferences.
"FacilityPro.com is connecting all elements of the supply chain," said Peter Dunning, president and CEO of FacilityPro.com. "We're giving them the ability to run detailed purchasing history reports in order to gain greater visibility into how they are spending their budget. Our enhanced capabilities also improve efficiencies by giving users additional control over the ordering process and eliminating unnecessary phone calls to track shipments." The new marketplace provides expanded support for manufacturers and distributors who use the site as a sales channel. Both groups now have the ability to analyze product demand and purchasing detail and to assess their market share position with access to real-time customer data. However, FacilityPro.com says security measures ensure that customers, manufacturers and distributors only have access to their own purchase and selling activity. FacilityPro.com claims more than 2,500 users at 600 locations in 43 states, representing 110 million square feet of commercial space. FacilityPro.com was established in 1998 and currently serves buyers from companies such as Encompass Service Corp., Federated Department Stores, Service Resources Inc., Haverty's Furniture and Avado Brands.
