. great Resourcesprice deviceUnited’s ICAPS enablesresellers to easily captureand update itemand price informati<strong>on</strong>In <strong>the</strong> current ec<strong>on</strong>omic envir<strong>on</strong>ment, supplier and manufacturerprices in <strong>the</strong> business products industry are c<strong>on</strong>stantlyfluctuating. To stay <strong>com</strong>petitive, resellers must adjust <strong>the</strong>ir pricingto reflect supplier price changes.If a supplier drops its price, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> reseller must rapidly adjust so that <strong>the</strong>product isn’t overpriced <strong>com</strong>pared to what <strong>the</strong> <strong>com</strong>petiti<strong>on</strong> is charging. If a supplierincreases <strong>the</strong> price of a product, <strong>the</strong> reseller must adjust its price upward or face diminishingmargins. For resellers, <strong>the</strong> recent trend toward frequent supplier price changesunderscores <strong>the</strong> importance of gaining immediate access to current price and iteminformati<strong>on</strong> and being able to anticipate future price adjustments.The Price is RightFortunately, United Stati<strong>on</strong>ers now offers a versatile, user-friendly tool that enables resellersto better manage <strong>the</strong>ir margins by automatically updating <strong>the</strong>ir item and pricinginformati<strong>on</strong> more frequently. Using United’s Item C<strong>on</strong>tent and Pricing System (ICAPS),resellers can easily access current pricing <strong>on</strong> any item, and even receive informati<strong>on</strong>in advance about up<strong>com</strong>ing item and pricing changes.Using ICAPS, resellers have access to all of United’s operati<strong>on</strong>al item informati<strong>on</strong>,including item descripti<strong>on</strong>, packaging, UPC codes, pricing fields, dealer cost, sell price,and <strong>the</strong> catalog page number. According to B<strong>on</strong>nie Kudia, United’s ICAPS manager,resellers can use ICAPS to create reports for items <strong>the</strong>y choose to access, includ-40 November/December 2009
ing reports <strong>on</strong> current pricing informati<strong>on</strong>. “Thisenables resellers to know what item and pricingchanges have occurred, and to keep <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>com</strong>putersystems up to date with current item andpricing informati<strong>on</strong>,” says Kudia.Previously, a reseller who requested updateditem and price informati<strong>on</strong> would inevitablyencounter delays. A reseller would send an e-mailrequesting a report, <strong>the</strong> request was routed to<strong>the</strong> appropriate individual, <strong>the</strong> informati<strong>on</strong> wasretrieved, and some<strong>on</strong>e would resp<strong>on</strong>d. “Now,”says Kudia, “ICAPS provides almost immediateaccess to <strong>the</strong> informati<strong>on</strong>, and resellers can easilycustomize <strong>the</strong>ir request using a template thatallows <strong>the</strong>m to specify <strong>the</strong> informati<strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong>y wantto update. This self-serve system can run a reportfor <strong>the</strong> user in three to four minutes, eliminating <strong>the</strong>traditi<strong>on</strong>al wait time.”The primary mechanisms customers can use totap into United’s item and price informati<strong>on</strong> includea standardized file format called Unitape, whichfeeds informati<strong>on</strong> directly into <strong>the</strong> reseller’s <strong>com</strong>putersystem. Resellers also have <strong>the</strong> opti<strong>on</strong> of creatingan Excel file or text file to retrieve updateditem and pricing informati<strong>on</strong>.“In additi<strong>on</strong> to standard templates that Unitedmakes available, a reseller can easily customizea template to incorporate <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>the</strong> fields <strong>the</strong>ywant to include,” explains Kudia. “United’s templateincludes all available fields, and <strong>the</strong> resellercan select which fields to use. Resellers can evendetermine <strong>the</strong> sequence of how <strong>the</strong>ir customizedinformati<strong>on</strong> appears in <strong>the</strong> file.”Resellers can also schedule when <strong>the</strong>y want toreceive updated informati<strong>on</strong> from United’s system—immediatelyor <strong>on</strong> a future date—as well as<strong>the</strong> frequency for retrieving updates from United’ssystem—daily, weekly, m<strong>on</strong>thly, or quarterly.“For example, a reseller can set up <strong>the</strong> systemto retrieve pricing informati<strong>on</strong> every Friday withprices that will take effect <strong>the</strong> following M<strong>on</strong>day,”says Kudia. And resellers can receive updatedinformati<strong>on</strong> using any of <strong>the</strong> three available deliverymethods: automatic e-mail, manual download,or posting to <strong>the</strong> reseller’s FTP site.System EnhancementsSince rolling out <strong>the</strong> system in April 2008, Unitedhas regularly introduced additi<strong>on</strong>al features based<strong>on</strong> requests from users. “Two exciting enhancementsto <strong>the</strong> system start December 1,” says Kudia.“Previously, a change file informed <strong>the</strong> resellerwhat <strong>the</strong> price would be for a specified item. Butusers also want to know <strong>the</strong> previous price, soa reseller can now see both previous and futureinformati<strong>on</strong>.”Ano<strong>the</strong>r enhancement enablesusers to specify that <strong>the</strong>y <strong>on</strong>ly wantto receive a change file if a specificparameter, such as price, haschanged. So if a customized templateincludes five columns of informati<strong>on</strong>,including price, <strong>the</strong> resellercan specify that <strong>the</strong>y <strong>on</strong>ly receivea change file if <strong>the</strong> price changes.O<strong>the</strong>r enhancements are nowincluded in ICAPS. Resellers usingResellers can better manage <strong>the</strong>ir margins by frequentlyupdating item and price informati<strong>on</strong>. Users can select daily,weekly, m<strong>on</strong>thly, or quarterly automatic updates.OFF CEL NE41
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