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FASTENER HISTORY
1999 FIN – Nissen Website Offers Fastener Buyers Negotiation Power

MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
September 30, 1999 FIN – P.R. Nissen & Co. Ltd. was featured in the Montreal Gazette as a brewing technological revolution.

Under the headline “Internet’s nuts & bolts” and subhead “Fastener distributor is an E-commerce pioneer,” technology reporter Andy Riga describes the company that “brings together 1,800 buyers and sellers of nuts and bolts from 80 countries.”

“Counting on projections that business-to-business electronic commerce will mushroom, the 15-employee importer and distributor of fasteners spent $250,000 developing the system,” Riga writes. “Now the family business founded in 1961 is on E-commerce’s cutting edge.”

Instead of phone calls and faxes to track down the nuts and bolts they need, buyers can use the system to broadcast their needs to suppliers, the Gazette explained to readers.

“This is a natural, extremely simple way for buyers to find products,” Ralph Nissen told Riga. “It’s a time-saving tool, helping you find the product you need, hopefully at a better price.”
Nissen is president of Industry Trade System Inc., a separate company formed for the Internet business.

To use ITS, a large-quantity buyer visits the site at www.tradesys.com or www.nissen-online.com and types in a detailed description of the needed products.

Riga explained that the requests for quotations are reviewed and collated by Nissen, who works out of his home in Ottawa, Canada. Several times a day the company’s server in Pointe Claire sends those requests out via Email to sellers who have registered with the system.
“There’s one request for quotation, and every supplier that’s able to offer the goods is notified of your needs,” Nissen explained to Riga. “Then it’s up to the supplier to respond and put in a competitive bid.”
Sellers click on a line in the Email and are transported to the ITS web site to see the name and contact information of the buyer.

The web site uses a credit system, with sellers purchasing credits for U.S. $.66 to $2. They use one to 10 credits per order, depending on its size. Nissen eventually plans for buyers to pay for access to the system.

Fastener buyers traditionally find new suppliers through directories, but “you have to find the suppliers of the goods and then you have to contact them” by phone or fax, Nissen told Riga. “There are always numerous suppliers to deal with, so it’s time consuming.”
Using ITS, buyers get responses from many suppliers, so they are “able to negotiate better with their other suppliers, and are hopefully able to at least slightly improve the price they’re paying as well as some of the terms they’re seeking,” Nissen said.
Fastener sellers don’t have to go out looking for customers, as quotation requests are sent directly to them.

ITS users range from small fastener distributors to such OEMs as Boeing, DuPont, Ferrari and Daewoo, Nissen said.

Thus far the service is creating $4,000 in monthly revenues.

“We are looking to expand this to include all other industrial products and supplies – everything from abrasives to safety supplies, you name it,” Nissen said. ©1999/2010 Fastener Industry News