IndustrialAmerica to open online MRO exchange

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 7/1/2000

When the founders of IndustrialAmerica.com researched the MRO market, buyers indicated that when purchasing products online, they prefer to continue buying from distributors they know.

Enabling buyers to do that, rather than cutting out existing distributors, is one of the premises of IndustrialAmerica.com, LLC, an Internet exchange that plans to go live in September. It hopes to offer one of the deepest collections of MRO goods available online.

The company is backed by MSC Industrial Direct and Internet Capital Group, a prominent investor in e-commerce startups. While the exchange will access MSC's catalog of more than 400,000 products, IndustrialAmerica executives say their company is not "MSC-centric" and will not favor the distributorship.

Another key partner in the exchange is distribution software provider Prophet 21, Inc., which hopes that its customers will access a larger pool of buyers directly through their existing computer system.

"This exchange can't exist without distributors," says CEO Charles Sheridan, a former senior vice president of consulting at Oracle. "We need to be neutral. While other [exchanges] lead with the software, we lead with our content mapping" capabilities, which involves translating manufacturers' and distributors' parts numbers and creating a universal catalog.

Products from electrical supplies to metalworking tools and power tools will be sold on the exchange. IndustrialAmerica will integrate with all enterprise-wide business systems and its information resources will handle functions like settlement and operational accounting, billing, and eliminate receivables, officials say. Sheridan says it essentially acts as an "information booth."

Buyers may find products in a number of ways-by preferred suppliers, distributors, through parametric searches-and see a spreadsheet of buying options if they want to. The site also lists available distributors with highlights of their services and product availability.

"We bring the information together and enable [buyers] to see other choices," says Chuck Moyer, one of the firm's founders and previously a senior vice president of marketing at MSC.