Strategy October 17, 2014
PCNA Unveils Web Platform And Affiliate Market Place
Top 40 firm Polyconcept North America (PCNA) has launched a new website that serves as a single gateway to all of its brands and offers product access to select PCNA affiliate supplier partners.
Top 40 firm Polyconcept North America (PCNA) has launched a new website that serves as a single gateway to all of its brands and offers product access to select PCNA affiliate supplier partners. On the site –www.pcna.com – a distributor will be able to find products from any PNCA brand, including Leed’s (asi/66887), Bullet (asi/42424), JournalBooks (asi/91340) and Trimark (asi/92122). The website also provides a Market Place tool that distributors can use to see items from certain non-PCNA brands. Those items can be purchased through Bullet.
“PCNA has partnered with select, high-quality suppliers that offer promotional products that complement those offered by the PCNA companies,” said David Nicholson, president of PCNA. “Market Place benefits distributors by providing easy access to a wider range of suppliers without the need to manage a large number of vendors in their systems.”
The initial PCNA affiliate is Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant (asi/44900), which will offer seven of its items through the Market Place tool. Additional affiliates and products will be added over time, according to PCNA. Each affiliate will have its own virtual storefront in the PCNA Market Place section, but the products are also included, as appropriate, in searches done within Leed’s, Bullet and Trimark Powered by Leed’s. Currently, PCNA Market Place is only available in the U.S., but the supplier expects to expand it into Canada in the near future.
“We are excited and ready to do our part in making this exciting initiative a success,” said Lance Stier, principal of Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant. “We believe that PCNA is a premier industry player and it is our strategic mission to associate with premier partners across all aspects of our business, whether with our distributor partners, brand partners – like Godiva, Lindt or Jelly Belly – or our vendors.”
The integrated PCNA website, announced this morning, offers several other search enhancements, as well. One feature gives users the ability to create customized product lists that can help compare items, be shared with clients or be saved for future use. Another feature, an art library, is a searchable database of a distributor’s production-ready artwork on file with PCNA. Art files can be referenced for orders or for virtual sample requests. PCNA is promising future enhancements, as well, like the ability to upload new artwork and organize artwork into client galleries. A third feature provides search results that can be refined by product category, color, and other attributes.
“In an increasingly digital world, we understand that seamless access to information and on-line tools is a critical component to our distributors’ success,” Nicholson said. “This investment we are making in www.pcna.com represents PCNA’s ongoing commitment to offer industry-leading support and service to our distributors – whether on-line or in person.”