We provide accessories and accent furniture to the trade and here is some simple things that we encourage our customers, suppliers, and sales reps to do to be green

To our Customers: We love them. They are great! We would suggest to all customers doing business with us or any vendor to follow some simple guidelines

• Please send purchase orders via email
• Please request invoices via email
• Work with us to use recyclable and re-usable pallets and packaging boxes
• Use the web to see our catalog instead of requesting a printed or CD. If something is missing, please let us know what information you would like to see on the web to help you make a more informed decision. Examples: a larger picture, more details about the specifications of the product. We charge for a printed catalog not because we want to make a profit but because it is a waste of resources and it will never stay current as the data on the web.
  • We intend to make our site fully ecommerce enabled so orders can be placed on-line and status of all orders can be checked on-line. Most ecommerce packages are for B2C. There are no good, easy to use, and reasonable software solutions out there for B2B. This is for another topic which I will cover in detail. The existing B2C packages have to be adopted and this is an expensive proposition. You can always create a site but it does not integrate with a back-end ERP and CRM system. The cost is still too prohibitive. There is one recent new solution that is now out in the marketplace. It is relatively new and time will tell.

To our Suppliers: It is key for us to have great suppliers where we can support each others efforts to be environmentally conscious and provide products that are green and free of toxins.

• Provide a complete list of materials and chemicals that you use on the products. This is the hardest thing to get. The industry needs a way to help our suppliers so there is a verifiable way to ensure environmentally safe products.
  • A side note – We need better on-line sources to find manufacturers. Alibaba focuses on China primarily and the information is not enough to make judgements about the what the products are, how it is made, what materials are used to make it, what finishes are used, what are the working conditions, or what the full capabilities of the suppliers are. If I had the funds, I would start an alternative to Alibaba that will be a whole lot better than what they offer.

To our Sales Representatives: Sales representatives can follow the same guidelines as our customers and help customers migrate from a paper based ordering system to a electronic ordering system. We give a higher priority to email or on-line orders rather than faxes or phone orders. This helps us be responsive to our customers.