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Buylink Corporation
Wholesale Success!
Since 1996, Buylink has been providing a flexible online
marketplace for companies that market their products on a wholesale
basis to other companies. 'Buylink offers our 3500 vendors the
opportunity to show their products to retailers at no cost, to
transact purchase orders for the lowest commission available, and
to benefit from other important services such as immediate payment
for orders shipped and market data to help them make better
manufacturing decisions,' explains Buylink co-founder and Chief
Technology Officer Brian Dunning. 'Buylink's 9200 retailers also
receive sales data and customized product recommendation,' Dunning
adds, 'plus they receive cash rebates on all their purchasing to
improve their bottom line.'
The heart of Buylink's system is its product database -- an
ever-changing, ever-shifting collection of thousands and thousands
of items. The vendors themselves maintain this database --
uploading new items as they become available, and deleting obsolete
listings when necessary. Historically, this has been done one item
at a time -- which can be a tedious and time-consuming procedure
when there are many new listings to be added. It was a system that
worked -- but there was clearly room for improvement.
Enter FileMaker Developer. Using this easy-to-learn, easy-to-use
set of tools designed for building customized FileMaker database
applications, Buylink has developed an application called
'BulkLoader,' which lets vendors manipulate their data offline --
and then upload it all at once. 'BulkLoader's easy point-and-click
interface lets vendors easily duplicate thousands of products, sort
them into product lines, attach photographs, and even import
directly from Excel or any other database they may happen to keep
their data in,' explains Brian. With a single mouseclick, this
information can then be uploaded to Buylink's own system.
'Bulkloader has been a roaring success,' enthuses Brian. 'Most of
Buylink's newly registering vendors download it, and data uploads
are happening all day long. The rate of product growth on Buylink's
database has skyrocketed now that vendors can quickly and easily
upload hundreds of products at a time. This has truly cemented
Buylink's market leadership.'
Even the competition has noticed -- and the features made possible
by FileMaker Developer have made it difficult for rivals to keep
up. 'The largest provider of online storefronts spent over a
million dollars attempting to create a similar product to
facilitate bulk product uploads,' notes Brian. 'In the end they
settled on an Excel spreadsheet, which they use today, and which
clearly lacks any of the user interface and automation provided by
BulkLoader.'
It's a system that works for vendors who want to reach as many
possible customers as possible -- and it's a system which works for
Buylink, helping them to serve those vendors quickly and
efficiently. One might say that FileMaker Developer has helped
Buylink to achieve success in wholesale lots!
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Brian Dunning
Chief Technology Officer
Buylink Corporation
650-616-5433
brian@buylink.com
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- At the heart of Buylink Corporation, the online wholesale marketplace where vendors can showcase and market their products, is a dynamic collection of thousands of featured items. Buylink used FileMaker Developer to create BulkLoader, a system which enables their 3,500 vendors to edit their own product information, and easily upload hundreds of products at a time.
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