CLICKSTOP PAGE 29 Clickstop’s Tim Guenther stands with the company’s awards, including the CBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies and Coolest Places to Work honors. so that’s probably the approach we’re taking.” The company’s eye for opportunities that could compliment its distribution reflects one of online retail’s most important recent changes: expectations for fast shipping, which could work to Clickstop’s advantage. “Shipping is happening a lot faster than it ever has,” Mr. Guenther said. “It makes us wonder how long it is before these carriers figure out that being in the middle of the country is actually a pretty good place to be.” As to whether a new acquisition would carry the Clickstop name, as opposed to the US Cargo Control brand or another altogether, Mr. Guenther said the company has yet to clearly demarcate the Clickstop name and its individual brands, which also cover lifting and moving supplies and building products. “So that’s a tough one for us, and I wish it wasn’t that way,” Mr. Guenther said. Presently, Clickstop has 117 full-time and 23- part time employees, with two facilities located in Urbana, including a $2.5 million facility with warehousing and distribution space that opened on Blue Creek Drive in 2011. The company also continues to own its original office on Bing Miller Lane, which now includes a warehouse and the company’s nonprofit, Clickstop Cares. Once a roughly 53,000-squarefoot expansion of the new office is completed this summer, however, those operations will move to Blue Creek Drive. CBJ SPOTIX PAGE 24 nications. With the company’s platforms now dialed in, he said he views any significant spike in email or phone contact with customers as an indicator of possible issues. “It’s actually a really good barometer for the overall status… of the content, the service, the product,” he said. Mr. Verhorevoort believes the business outlook for Spotix is positive due to economic indicators such as home construction and new home sales, which increased 6 percent nationwide the first quarter of 2015 over the same time period last year. “I think it looks like a pretty rosy picture with some slow, steady growth for the next couple of years, at least as far as big-picture, macro growth goes,” he said. What’s happened since: Spotix has kept the fire going since topping the CBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies list in 2015. The company ranked No. 5 in 2016 with 169 percent growth, and No. 7 this year, at 144 percent. Although the company has a sales floor at its new facility at the I-380 Industrial Park, where it relocated in December, more than 95 percent of the company’s sales continue to be earned online. “A sale is a sale, whether it’s online or in-person out of the showroom,” Aaron Verhorevoort, now president, said. “Any sale is a good sale.” The company more than doubled its space with the move, and Spotix now occupies about 23,000 square feet, including its warehouse, in the 90,0000-square-foot building. The new space also boasts a revamped showroom, which serves two purposes, according to Mr. Verhorevoort. Like any showroom, the space allows the company to display hardware to prospective buyers. Perhaps more importantly, however, the room helps staff familiarize themselves with the products in-person so that they can better answer questions for customers online. “And that level of experience is more common in brickand-mortar retail space, but it’s not as common online,” Mr. Verhorevoort said. “That’s kind of what helps us have a little bit of an upper-hand or unique edge over the competition.” As of April, the company had 13 full-time employees, with plans to hire about six more full-time employees in 2017 and another half-dozen employees next year. Among those positions slated to be hired are sales, marketing, development and possibly 1-2 service positions. “We’re certainly still on pace for that timeline and maybe a little bit ahead of it,” Mr. Verhorevoort said. – Chase Castle 34 CBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies <strong>10</strong>th Anniversary
At Ahmann Companies, we provide design, building, buying, leasing and property management services. Whether it’s residential, commercial or anything in between, our vertically integrated teams work together to provide creative solutions for your project to help make your dreams a reality. 319-395-7900 / www. ahmanndesign.com / www.fusion-architects.com / www.compass-built.com / www.pivotrealestate.com
Change language