Gardner, KS – At DistributorCentral, Jason Nokes takes his role as president and supervisor very seriously. He uses this platform—and his impressive strategic foresight—to shape a new generation of technical, support, and sales leaders. Everyone who has worked with Jason has many good things to say about his worth ethic and his management skills, but his charisma and personality as well.
"Jason has always fully understood where the organization has come from and where it’s going. His excitement of his vision for its future is infectious. Jason actively embraces education and out-of-the-box thinking. Everyone in the company feels that they could walk into his office to talk about an idea or a problem because Jason always actively encourages people to pitch ideas, test new features, and give input at any stage of a project." –Angela Taylor, Marketing Director
Jason is always looking to the future with a positive attitude. He uses delegation to promote efficiency and focus, and so that everyone has a role that they are suited to. Jason’s mentality is that if a project succeeds, then everyone wins. However, if the project does not succeed, he identifies the mistakes within the failure and uses these mistakes to come out the other side as an overall better team and company.
Jason’s employees also say that he actively promotes both industry education and non-promotional product conferences. This varied approach gives DistributorCentral employees a better understanding of their customers’ problems while seeing technology solutions from other industries. He is a strong believer in giving back to the community and supporting volunteerism—as he volunteers weekly himself.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award-winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: the industry’s first intelligent product search engine, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – Adam Mertz, an accomplished and experienced software engineer, is the newest member of the DistributorCentral team. Adam has an assortment of skills including creating internal dashboards, analysis of big data, QA development, and web application development, that make him a perfect fit for the position of software engineer.
Adam has a diverse background of positions at companies such as Codero Hosting, and ARRIS. "I have worked in various roles in both the business side as well as the engineering/development side," explains Adam. "I believe that this will be of great use for me as I start at DistributorCentral."
"Adam is a great addition to the DistributorCentral team. With his experience and background, Adam is going to help our company run smoother and stay functional by making sure our software works effectively." –Chris Schlemmer, Vice President, Technology
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award-winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: the industry’s first intelligent product search engine, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – DistributorCentral has launched the Promotional Product Industry’s first intelligent search engine. The system learns with each product search to provide faster, more relevant results and includes easy-to-use guided navigation and faceted filtering, integrated ecommerce functionality and user-friendly detail pages, and a quick email function to send product ideas to customers and coworkers.
The release, codenamed "Prophet", is a significant milestone as part of a long-term plan to modernize the Promotional Product Industry and culminates years of focused development. In early 2015, DistributorCentral transitioned from a co-located server system to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and leverages their serverless architecture. This step removed constraints like bandwidth and server maintenance. AWS automatically spins up more computing power based on demand, allowing DistributorCentral’s new search to be infinitely scalable. DistributorCentral moved from a server-based system of hundreds of queries down to one API call, creating the fastest product search in the industry.
Customers are taking notice of the new search engine. "I really love the speed and how easy it is to find anything my customers are looking for." says Amy Cox from Promo Sherpas. Jami Daugherty from Huskador Print says, "I like it so far. I really appreciate all the search defining options being in that left side panel in plain sight."
"We are seeing incredible results. Our system has peaked at 16,000 requests per second and we are on pace to handle over 1 billion promotional product searches this year from customers and search engine indexing. And, since we are running entirely on the AWS platform, it has enabled us to leverage the entire suite of AWS products including Alexa and machine learning tools. Our search can be accessed from web, mobile, voice (Alexa), and chat (Facebook Messenger). Distributors will no longer be chained to their desks when searching for products." –Jason Nokes, President
The new product search has been launched within the DistributorCentral dashboard and is accessible by their 10,000 distributor users and across the thousands of websites built on DistributorCentral’s award-winning, mobile-responsive platform.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award winning technology service provider for the Promotional Products Industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: the industry’s fastest product search, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – Natalie Clark, an experienced and accomplished software support specialist, is the newest member of the DistributorCentral Product Support Department. She has recently taken on the role of Software Support Specialist. Natalie has a variety of relevant skills. She has gained extensive experience in a number of different jobs, helping her to become an expert in her field.
Natalie has previously worked as a Graphic Designer at National Mills, Inc., a Project Manager/Graphic Designer at OrderMaster Graphics, a Systems Marketing Graphic Designer at Pitsco Education, an Art/Production Director at The Times of SWLA, a Marketing and Sales Coordinator at Knight Media Printing, and an Inside Account Manager at The Leslie Company.
"Natalie’s background as both a supplier at The Leslie Company and distributor at Knight Media Printing in the promotional products industry gives her a unique understanding of our clients’ needs and obstacles. We are excited to have her as part of the team and eager to see what she has to offer." –Tiffany Tarr, Vice President, Sales
Natalie’s experience, creativity, efficiency, and abilities knowledge will make her a great addition, not just for DistributorCentral’s Product Support Department, but for the company as a whole.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – David Ames an accomplished web developer, is the latest to join the DistributorCentral team. Ames has formerly worked on projects with companies such as Bridgestone Tires, J.G. Wentworth, and Sprint. He has an assortment of different skills and experience that he has gained through work as a web developer with Team Drive Away, a trucking and logistics company in Kansas and VML, an ad agency in Missouri. He has also been employed as a software engineer at Red Nova Labs and as a Technologist also with VML.
"I enjoy working in the tech industry in Kansas City because there is less tension and preconceived ideas. I find that I have more freedom to try new things and have new ideas." –David Ames
David Ames’ new position shows positive expansion of DistributorCentral, which was recently awarded three technology awards as well as an award from PPAI, or Promotional Products Association International, as one of the “Greatest Companies to Work For.” “David will be a great addition to our highly talented development team. His hire will allow us to further strengthen and expand our platform utilizing cutting edge technologies.” says Chris Schlemmer, Vice President, Technology.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – DistributorCentral, a one-stop shop for promotional product distributors and suppliers, has recently been honored as one of PPB (Promotional Products Business) magazine’s Greatest Places To Work For. With over 100 nominations in this year’s competition, the technology company proved to be a place with a happy, fun, and innovative work environment. Using full-time employee ratings as the primary selection criteria, employees at each company were asked to complete a confidential 13-question online survey where they rated their company on key areas including engagement, effectiveness, leadership, ethics, pay, benefits, and training.
DistributorCentral works with distributors and suppliers offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including fast and accurate product search, e-commerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral understands the complexity of the promotional products industry which is why they look for educated, skilled, and knowledgeable professionals to work for them. "It’s true what they say that if you’re passionate about what you do, it never feels like working," says David Shultz, Vice President of Operations. "If you’re passionate about technology and innovation, DistributorCentral is the place to be."
"DistributorCentral is one of the most rewarding companies I’ve ever worked for. Every employee has a passion to be their very best and it clearly shows in everything DC does. I am proud to work with one of the most talented groups of professionals in the country." -Tiffany Tarr, Vice President of Sales
In addition to being a small company with a great work environment, the company is also located in one of the prime areas for growth in the technology sector. Kansas City metro area has become a nationally recognized leader in high-tech jobs and innovation. "Anyone interested in the technology industry should definitely strive to live in Kansas City," says Jason Nokes, President. "There’s a unique pool of talent and skill, which is also what helps to keep DistributorCentral on top of the game."
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
Gardner, KS – FIEL (Fairdeal Import & Export Ltd.), an Ontario-based wholesaler specializing in imprintable textile promotional products and apparel, has recently partnered with Distributor Central to upgrade and customize its ecommerce website. DistributorCentral created 120 custom pages for the site, including landing pages for each product category.
On the new website, FIEL’s array of 1,000+ products are searchable by color, by product, by category, and by imprint method. Other useful features: distributors can get quick and easy shipping estimates (even international ones), directly from the website, saving time and eliminating the need for a phone call. The website is PromoStandards enabled, allowing it to display live on-hand inventory and order status. The Artwork Upload page allows large art file uploads, eliminating any email issues with large files. Website users can easily browse color options from the product detail pages. The website also allows FIEL to easily highlight products that are on special or clearance. Each of these website features was carefully designed to solve a time-wasting or money-wasting issue.
In addition, the website provides a feature that is unusual to promotional product supplier website: an instant messenger with a unique validation step that ensures only distributors can contact FIEL through the IM. This is an important and time-saving way for FIEL to offer excellent customer service to its distributors.
"We are very happy with the new site and the process for getting it live. The timeline was tight and ambitious. In order to meet the deadline, it was imperative that both sides were extremely responsive and on top of dozens of emails that were going back on forth each day. Not only did we complete the project on time, we also stayed within the fixed price. It’s a pleasure to work with the dedicated team at DistributorCentral!" –Asif Bandeali, FIEL CTO
DistributorCentral’s website builder platform, which the firm used to create FIEL’s new website, recently won the 2017 PPAI Gold Technology Award for its outstanding capabilities. FIEL is already planning to create new features, which are made possible due to the easy-to-use platform.
Amelia Madl, Senior Account Manager at DistributorCentral, was instrumental in optimizing and organizing FIEL’s product data. She stated, "FIEL had a very tight deadline for this project, and they had an extensive wish list as well. However, we were able to meet each of their needs, and the website is built in such a way that it will be easy to add updates and new features later down the road."
Visit the new website at www.fiel.com.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is an award winning technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, ecommerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
About FIEL (Fairdeal Import & Export Ltd.)
FIEL is your local North American factory specializing in imprintable textile promotional products and apparel. Under its house brand, FIEL manufactures many items in-house: aprons, tablecloths, beach towels, golf towels, bandanas, blankets, tote bags, and more. FIEL is proudly Canadian with offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and Orlando, to better serve customers from the West coast to the East coast across Canada and the US.
GARDNER, Kansas (March 27, 2017) – SHEPENCO partnered with DistributorCentral to upgrade their website. Wanting a cleaner, fresh design, SHEPENCO provided DistributorCentral with examples of websites they liked and features they wanted to include. SHEPENCO’s main goals for the website redesign included streamlining product data updates by utilizing their data that is already in DistributorCentral on their website, help customers to quickly find their top products, and educate distributors on their Create-A-Pencil™ program.
DistributorCentral was able to build a number of unique features on SHEPENCO’s new website, including an imbedded video on the homepage which showcases the company’s manufacturing process of each pencil, highlighting their versatility of options.
Hover navigation on the desktop version of the website helps distributors and end-users find SHEPENCO’s top products. However, the flexibility of DistributorCentral’s web editor, different navigation was designed specifically for mobile and tablet browsers, where hover actions are not used.
"SHEPENCO’s website also included many of our standard features, like a virtual catalog, virtual samples, shipping estimates, and alternative images for various product options. Additionally, any industry distributor can use their free DistributorCentral log-in can access a secured portion of SHEPENCO’s website to see discounted pricing, request more information on a product, or order the product right there, while still feeling confident that they can send the website to their customers to see an end-user friendly website." says Amelia Madl, Sales Manager at DistributorCentral.
"The great part of DistributorCentral’s platform is the ability to view how each page will be seen on each device, to ensure it is optimized for that screen size. DistributorCentral was so easy to work with, and we were impressed with the beautiful, clean design. It’s so easy for our customers to go into the Create-A-Pencil designer and mix-and-match each part of the pencil. Our customers can see that we can create exactly what they are wanting," says Alex Moltz, Marketing Director at SHEPENCO.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is a technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, e-commerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
About SHEPENCO
Starting in 1933 in Pencil City USA, SHEPENCO’s roots are set deep in Middle Tennessee. Having sold exclusively to ad specialties, SHEPENCO has built a solid reputation on providing quality wiring instruments, impressive imprinting capabilities, and award winning customer service. This 4th generation family owned and operated company looks forward to serving your family for the next 84 years.
GARDNER, Kansas (January 19, 2017) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) takes home a Gold Technology Award for Mobile Apps/Mobile Website and two Silver Technology Awards for Social Media and Web Content/Functionality.
While at the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, DistributorCentral was awarded three prestigious PPAI Technology Awards. DistributorCentral was the industry’s only service provider to win multiple PPAI Technology Awards this year.
A Gold Technology Award in the Mobile Apps/Mobile Website – Service Provider category was bestowed to DistributorCentral for their responsive, mobile-friendly website builder and hosting platform that launched in 2015. The new platform allows customers a mobile website capable of browsing, product inquiries, and electronic order placement from a mobile device. Customers can easily migrate their legacy websites to the new platform themselves at no charge.
A Silver Technology Award in the Social Media – Service Provider category was presented to DistributorCentral for using a mix of content on multiple social media channels. DistributorCentral’s campaign "Come in and create a new Responsive Website for Free" drove attendees to the tradeshow booths where distributors created websites on the spot using the proprietary, easy website creation tool.
Another Silver Technology Award was given to DistributorCentral in the Web Content/Functionality – Service Provider category for DistributorCentral’s newly launched company website in 2016, which was built with the same tools offered free to every distributor in the industry. The fully-responsive, mobile-friendly website was redesigned to give prospective members a better picture of service offerings and to show distributor and suppliers how they can save time and money in their businesses by leveraging DistributorCentral’s suite of technology tools. "By building our own company website on our new mobile-responsive website platform, it shows just how flexible the design of each website can be," comments David Shultz, Vice President of Operations.
"Thank you to the entire DistributorCentral team for their hard work. I am proud that PPAI and the industry have acknowledged the strides we’ve made in mobile technology and making that cutting-edge technology available to our industry," says Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is a technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, e-commerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
GARDNER, Kansas (December 1, 2016) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) has announced new employees in three of its departments, Marketing, Customer Support, and Sales, as part of the company’s continued growth.
Angela Taylor has joined DistributorCentral as Marketing Director. Angela has 12 years of experience in the promotional products industry with a focus in B2B and B2C marketing and industry advertising. She spent nine years at ASI, starting out as Website Coordinator and working her way up to Director, Digital Advertising Operations. She then became VP, Marketing at A+ Wine Designs, where she spent the past three years. She has volunteered with SAAC as Membership Chair and Treasurer, and she was recently elected as Vice President of SAAC’s board for 2017. "Angela’s experience of having been both a competitor and a customer of DistributorCentral gives her a unique voice for us." says Jason Nokes, President.
Alex Garcia has joined the Customer Support department as Software Support Specialist. He has a vast background that consists of 10 years in customer support and account management. Most recently, he was Information Technology Consultant for his own business venture eHome Tech Support, where he helped PC owners analyze and fix hardware and software issues. Before that he was as a Finance Advisor for the University of Phoenix for 5 years, where he managed students’ accounts; helping them with their financial aid, student loans and grants. "Our Software Support Specialist postions are hard to fill, because of the delicate balance needed between being technical and customer centric. However, Alex’s diverse background in both customer service and technical support is the exact mix we need for the expansion of the department," says Tiffany Tarr, Vice President of Sales.
Amy Pentola has joined the Sales department as Account Manager. She has spent the last eight years at FS Promotions, a promotional product distributor, as Director, Client Services. At FS Promotions she coordinated promotional product orders for a line of hair salons while managing the relationships with clients, advertising agency, and print vendors. "Amy is a natural fit to DistributorCentral. She understands our customers’ needs and will be able to immediately help our growing sales team," says Tiffany Tarr.
"All these end of year additions just show how fast DistributorCentral is growing. They all bring different experience to DistributorCentral that will make them strong in their new positions while expanding the overall perspective of the company," says David Shultz, Vice President of Operations.
About DistributorCentral
DistributorCentral is a technology company for the promotional products industry, offering a range of cost-effective online resources, including: fast and accurate product search, e-commerce websites, order management, email blasts, and artwork services. DistributorCentral offers the only free-to-use product database for distributors and suppliers in the industry.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
GARDNER, Kansas (November 8, 2016) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) has been chosen as a finalist in the 2017 PPAI Technology Award Competition in three categories: Mobile Apps/Mobile Websites, Web Content/Functionality and Social Media.
Mobile Website - The DistributorCentral website is aimed at both current and prospective distributor and supplier users. The site was built internally on our own new, fully-responsive platform which leverages the powerful tools available in DistributorCentral's new responsive web builder. The website is responsive in order to adjust to any device to provide our mobile visitors a productive and pleasant browsing experience.
Web Content/Functionality - DistributorCentral launched a new website in 2016 built entirely with the same tools offered free to every distributor in the industry. The fully-responsive website was redesigned to give prospective members a better picture of their service offerings and show distributors and suppliers how they can save time and money in their businesses by leveraging DistributorCentral’s suite of technology tools.
Social Media - The Facebook social media campaign, "Come in and create a new Responsive Website for Free" was aimed at both current and prospective distributor and supplier users that were in need of a new or updated company website. Using a mix of content, the campaign drove attendees to DistributorCentral’s tradeshow booths where distributors created new websites on the spot using their easy website wizard creation tool.
"DistributorCentral is honored to be selected as a finalist in the 2017 PPAI Technology awards. Our talented team has worked hard to build one of the industry's most powerful technology platforms and teach industry distributors and suppliers how to use the platform to save them time and money. To also see our customer-focused marketing and social media initiatives be recognized as part of these awards is truly an honor," said David Shultz, Vice President of Operations.
As a finalist, DistributorCentral will be recognized at the 2017 PPAI Awards Block Party on January 10th, during the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
A list was recently published of the Promo industry’s Top Tech Collaborators & Innovators. Dale Denham, MAS+, CIO, Geiger and Jon Norris, VP of Operations, Starline collaborated to recognize those individuals who are leading the tech charge in our industry with their business strategy and execution utilizing technology. The Industry “Tech22” recognizes the industry technology leaders based on their technology and business skills. Today’s IT leaders are a different breed as business acumen and the ability to lead people are at least as important as strong technology skills.
Coming in on the list in the #15 spot are DistributorCentral’s Jason Nokes, President and David Shultz VP of Operations.
Jason and David are on the forefront of web, cloud and mobile solutions for companies of all sizes within the industry. The scalable challenges they have faced hosting over 20,000 websites is no easy feat. Early adopters of PromoStandards, they have continued their drive and desire to see industry standardization flourish. For a small distributor, they make it easy.
DistributorCentral was also recognized as PPAI’s 2016 Industry Collaborator Award recipient at this year’s PPAI Technology Summit.
Click for the full #Tech22 List
Gardner, KS (July 26, 2016) – DistributorCentral (DC) (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced today that the company was selected as the Promotional Products Association International’s 2016 Industry Collaborator Award recipient. The annual award, presented by PPAI, celebrates the technological achievements by a member company whose efforts help to bring the industry closer together through greater efficiency, information sharing and collaboration.
The 2016 Tech Summit Award winners will be recognized at the PPAI Technology Summit being held on August 17th and 18th in San Francisco, CA. The awards presented at the Tech Summit identify and showcase advances in technology that bring success to individual companies and help advance the industry as a whole.
DistributorCentral was recognized for their Inventory Web Service Solution that provide suppliers an easy way to host a live feed of their inventory data as specified at promostandards.org without the need to design, build and host the service themselves. As part of this service DistributorCentral will host a supplier’s inventory data at no charge and administer credentialing and access to the supplier’s data for industry distributors and service providers.
DistributorCentral’s IT director, Chris Schlemmer, directed the design and build of this new service through which a supplier can easily upload inventory data to DC in a simple, text-based format or by using a pre-built app (downloadable from DC) which can be installed locally on a computer located at the supplier’s facility. Once installed, DC routinely pulls the supplier’s inventory data and re-broadcasts it to the industry per the promostandards specifications. Inventory data is integrated into DC’s product research platform and hosted website platform.
The initial commitment in resources required to design and launch this functionality was an investment that will continue to help service clients and promote enhanced technology and integration solutions long into the future. Early adopters and key DistributorCentral customers such as Alpi International and Omni Apparel were critical to the project as they assisted with early development efforts and testing.
“We are proud to be in a position to offer real-time inventory data from any supplier in industry to every distributor in the industry,” said David Shultz, DistributorCentral’s Vice President of Operations. “Simplifying the process of retrieving and providing access to real-time inventory data saves suppliers and distributors valuable time and money in an increasingly competitive and ever-changing industry landscape.” For more information visit: www.dcinventory.com
GARDNER, Kansas (June 9, 2016) – DistributorCentral (DC) (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) recently launched a solution for suppliers to host their inventory data at no cost in the standards specified at promostandards.org
Development began soon after the 2015 PPAI Tech Summit, with Alpi and Zorrel being the first suppliers to start using when it went live to the industry in March of 2016.
While the inventory standard has proven to be a fantastic tool for suppliers to share inventory data electronically with distributors, it was difficult to encourage adoption among suppliers who might not have the technical expertise on staff to build the service. It was that barrier to entry that encouraged DC's IT director, Chris Schlemmer, to come up with a solution to address the needs of these suppliers. Under Schlemmer's direction, DC built and launched a service whereby a supplier can easily upload inventory data to DC in a simple, text-based format or by using a pre-built app (downloadable from DC) which can be installed locally on a computer located at the supplier's facility. From there, DC is able to "re-broadcast" the inventory.
Any distributor or service provider in the industry can access that supplier's inventory data by consuming DC's web service, just as they would when retrieving inventory data directly from a supplier who hosts their own inventory web service. Also, since DC provides technology tools free to the industry, every distributor now has access to real-time inventory information. Inventory data is automatically shown on the 8,000 distributor e-commerce websites hosted by DC, as well as its internal product research and presentation tools.
As an additional benefit to users who are interested in integrating directly with DC’s web service, any distributor with a DC login and API key can retrieve inventory data from every DC supplier using the same credentials, eliminating the need to hit multiple supplier web services and track multiple sets of credentials.
"DC's ability to quickly launch an inventory web service on behalf of a supplier can save a supplier an immense amount of time and money that would have otherwise been spent developing their own inventory web service," said Schlemmer. "The initial investment in time and effort on DC’s part was an investment that will continue to help service our clients and promote enhanced technology and integration solutions long into the future."
For more information visit: www.dcinventory.com or www.distributorcentral.com.
GARDNER, Kansas (March 21, 2016) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced two new additions to its development team as part of the company’s continued growth.
"The addition of Pablo and William brings new energy and enthusiasm to the company's current developing team," said Jason Nokes, President. "We saw the need to bring on additional developers to continue to make strides forward."
Pablo Hanke has joined the DistributorCentral team in a new position – Data Integration Manager. With a background in the legal collection world, Hanke handled all data/reports to and from clients. Hanke's extensive IT, data integration and reporting experience will support DistributorCentral's efforts to create standards for product integration.
In addition to supporting existing efforts, Hanke will ensure that DistributorCentral stays abreast of the latest technology to meet customers’ needs.
William Giles has joined the DistributorCentral as a Web Application Developer. Giles will be working closely with the DC web application development team to improve its search system and overall usability.
Giles previously worked for National Seminars as a Web Developer and also had his own web contracting business before he came on board with DC.
"William came in with a great deal of experience and a natural talent for web development and emerging technologies," said Nokes.
To complement the recent launch of our new, responsive website platform, we wanted to redesign our public website leveraging the powerful tools available in DistributorCentral's new responsive web builder. As part of designing a new website our team felt it important to showcase our "story" so visitors could learn more about what we mean when we say that DistributorCentral is, from product research to delivery, "the complete solution for distributors and suppliers."
The mission behind the creation of DistributorCentral's technology has always been to create Accurate Orders; for an end user to order products from a distributor website and have those orders flow seamlessly to the supplier with all the pertinent information required for the supplier to accurately produce and ship the order to the customer. The foundation of DC is that accurate orders start with accurate and complete product information from the supplier, which is why it’s important to understand that suppliers have direct access to update their data and why they commit to honoring the pricing they have listed on DistributorCentral.
The desire to better explain how our services support our mission led us to create a very different type of home page. Users can scroll down and see how DC takes you seamlessly through the order process and gives you the website, product research and customer management tools you need to run your business more effectively. Additional changes were made to enhance the feature and pricing information in order to provide distributors and suppliers are better picture of our service offerings.
"We are especially proud that this redesign was built entirely within the new, responsive DC Web Editor," says Rachel Dykes, DistributorCentral's User Experience Developer. "In addition to the basic tools offered in our web builder we did employ some custom Javascript to achieve the cool scrolling effect on the front page, but any DC user familiar with advanced web design can replicate the effect within our editor by using similar Javascript techniques. We hope our new site showcases the power and flexibility of our new web editor."
Even if you are already a DC distributor or supplier user, we encourage you to take a few minutes to learn more about how our technology works seamlessly from product research to delivery to save you time placing and receiving accurate orders.
Click Here to visit the new DistributorCentral Public Website
GARDNER, Kansas (January 26, 2016) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced today that their product data feed is now integrated with e-commerce service provider, Webjaguar. Distributors can now find products in Webjaguar's Promo Solution from DistributorCentral.
"Advanced eMedia developed a new eCommerce Store platform for the promotional products industry. To compliment our own database of industry VIP Suppliers we partnered with DistributorCentral to increase our Supplier selections to over 675," said Scott Johnson, Director, PROMO Commerce Division, Webjaguar.
DistributorCentral lists over forty different integrations and partnerships. Suppliers benefit from integrations such as the one with Webjaguar because it extends the reach of their products to more Distributors beyond DistributorCentral's product research tool and Distributor hosted websites. When a Supplier makes a real-time update to their product, they are automatically updating their products on all of these sites as well. This is a benefit of being a Supplier PRO Member of DistributorCentral.
"Working with the team at DistributorCentral was a pleasure; both companies integrating the DC database into our new IMPRINT Stores platform became a quick and effortless project. Distributors and Suppliers looking for an advanced eCommerce platform built for the promotional products industry now have the solution with our unique platform and one of the industry's leading product search providers," said Scott Johnson, Director, PROMO Commerce Division, Webjaguar.
"The DC product feed is provided free of charge courtesy of our suppliers for use by distributors and service providers. By providing the tools to connect information, we have made integrations with our database straightforward and easy," said Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit: www.distributorcentral.com
For more information about Webjaguar visit: www.webjaguar.com
IRVING, TX, (January 22, 2016) – DistributorCentral, won Silver in the 2016 Technology Award Competition sponsored by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). Thirty-Eight Gold, Silver and Bronze winners were recognized at the PPAI Awards Presentation & Reception held January 12, 2016 at the House of Blues in conjunction with The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas.
PPAI recognized DistributorCentral for its leadership in technological achievement, awarding the company the 2016 PPAI Technology Award in two categories. DistributorCentral's CentralZone Digital Newsletter won in the Blogs/Podcasts/Digital News category and the DistributorCentral Mobile App won in the Mobile Apps/Mobile Websites category.
"DistributorCentral separates itself from its competition by investing in new technology and utilizing time-saving, mobile applications and digital content to meet the needs of its customers," said Paul Bellantone, CAE, president and CEO at PPAI.
DistributorCentral was presented Silver in two categories for the 2016 PPAI Technology Award. These winners were selected by a panel of industry professionals and independent, outside marketing and advertising professionals. For more information about the PPAI awards program visit www.ppai.org/awards or contact the PPAI Awards and Recognition department at .
GARDNER, Kansas (December 7, 2015) –DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) is proud to announce their integration with a new commonsku (UPIC: C552077) feature called collaborate.
Collaborate is a new, more efficient way for distributors and suppliers to work together inside commonsku. Collaborate helps distributors discover new products faster, and makes it easier for suppliers to find new customers and gain more exposure to their products.
Product data that is maintained on the DistributorCentral platform will automatically feed into the commonsku collaborate tool. This gives suppliers the ability to suggest products via their DistributorCentral catalog without re-keying product or pricing information. Distributors can then add these products to their commonsku presentations, estimates and sales orders with one click.
"DistributorCentral is committed to supplying product data for the entire industry. We support the new commonsku collaborate tool because it is an easy way for our suppliers to generate sales using the product data they already maintain on DC," said Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
"We designed commonsku's software as a way to streamline communication across the promotional products supply chain. Having DistributorCentral data incorporated into collaborate makes it easier for suppliers to add their products right into distributor projects, thus saving everyone time," said Mark Graham, Chief Platform Officer of commonsku.
Suppliers must be a Supplier PRO member of DistributorCentral for their products to populate into collaborate from the DC database. (Otherwise, they have the option of manually adding them from their commonsku database.) There is no cost for distributor customers to use this feature. If a supplier is not already part of collaborate, they can start a 15 day free trial when invited into a project.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com
For more information about commonsku collaborate visit www.commonsku.com/collaborate
GARDNER, Kansas (November 1, 2015) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced today that their product data feed is now integrated with industry email blast service provider, PromoCorner. Distributors can now source products directly from the PromoCorner website and also include individual products from the DC database into their own email broadcast using the AutoFlash tool.
"We partnered with DistributorCentral to provide product sourcing, due to DC's extensive product database. A centralized database of product information is critical to our industry's future growth, and with DistributorCentral we have access to one of the best!" said Joel Moore, President of PromoCorner.
DistributorCentral lists over forty different integrations and partnerships. Suppliers benefit from integrations such as the one with Promo Corner because it extends the reach of their products to more Distributors beyond DistributorCentral's product research tool and Distributor hosted websites. When a Supplier makes a real-time update to their product, they are automatically updating their products on all of these sites as well.
"We have made integrations with our database very straightforward and easy by providing the tools to connect information," said Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
"Along with sourcing, our partnership with DistributorCentral opens up new opportunities for our distributor subscribers to now include individual products when utilizing our email broadcast tool, AutoFlash. AutoFlash is designed to help distributors reach their clients with attractive and useful email newsletters, featuring offers, videos, catalogs, and now thanks to DC individual product listings," Moore adds.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com
For more information about PromoCorner visit www.promocorner.com
To access the sourcing feature on PromoCorner, visit www.promocorner.com/dcsearch
GARDNER, Kansas (October 16, 2015) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) has been chosen as a finalist in the 2016 PPAI Technology Award Competition in two categories: Blogs/Podcasts/Digital News and Mobile Apps/Mobile Websites.
DistributorCentral's CentralZone Digital Newsletter provides a monthly recap of DistributorCentral's company and industry activity as well as providing valuable information about new features and tips about services that we provide. Relevant content and articles from technology partners and industry experts serve to offer our customers strategies designed to help them succeed in business.
"Having a regular method of communicating with customers and prospects is important to increase awareness and understanding of our company and its products and services. We are well aware that customers and prospects may only have a limited perspective of what DistributorCentral can offer if they only view our advertisements or receive promotional email. The goal of our Monthly Digital Newsletter content is to build a broader picture of DistributorCentral for both Suppliers and Distributors." says Stephanie Protz, Marketing Director at DistributorCentral.
The DistributorCentral Mobile App was developed to serve as an extension of the DistributorCentral cloud-based solution. It gives our users a quick and easy means of conducting business on the go. Distributors can research products, access detailed information & pricing, email products directly to their customers, view orders & shipping status, lookup supplier contact information, send invoices to clients and send purchase orders to suppliers. The app is provided free to existing DistributorCentral distributor users.
"DistributorCentral is honored to be selected as a finalist in the 2016 PPAI Technology awards. Our team has done an incredible job building one of the industry's most powerful technology platforms and engaging with industry distributors and suppliers to help them leverage technology tools in their businesses. As an award finalist it is rewarding as a company to be recognized for that work and our commitment to servicing the technology needs of the industry," said David Shultz, Vice President of Operations.
As a finalist, DistributorCentral will be recognized at the 2016 PPAI Awards Presentation & Reception being held at the House of Blues on Tuesday, January 12th, during the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas.
For more information about DistributorCentral visit www.distributorcentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
GARDNER, Kansas (September 15, 2015) –DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced today that overall product views have increased over 400 percent in less than two years. So far in 2015, products in the DC database have seen by distributors and their customers an average of 3.6 million a month. Compared to 2013, when DC averaged less than one million product searches per month, this represents a tremendous increase in potential sales generated from DistributorCentral data.
DistributorCentral attributes this growth to not only an increase in the Supplier and Distributor members but to the strategic partnerships they have formed. DistributorCentral is proud to list over forty different integrations and partnerships for its customers, including providing product data for commonsku, Essent, eBlox, PromoCorner, and Artwork Services USA members.
DistributorCentral is also a part of a group of professionals committed to improving the IT efficiency in the promotional products industry through collaboration. The goal of this project, along with 20 of the largest suppliers, is to implement new and better ways to do business based on a set of standards that are compatible for the greater good of the industry.
"Participation in these efforts not only contributes to increased exposure, but also improves the overall user experience; which we constantly strive to do," says Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
"To support the increase in traffic, in 2015 we moved to the best in class cloud-based hosting that provides a faster, more secure environment for all of our users," says Nokes.
A 400% increase in product views over two years is good news for Supplier members that list their products in the Pro version of DistributorCentral. As DC's product feed populates over 8,500 distributor websites via DC's website system, integrations and software partners, supplier’s overall statistics have grown exponentially.
Nokes foresees the rapid growth to accelerate in 2016 as more supplier, distributor, and partner members come on board.
GARDNER, Kansas (September 10, 2015) – DistributorCentral (PPAI: 220404 | UPIC: DC) announced their new value added service called DC ARTStudio. Members can now order production ready artwork services directly from their accounts. Services will be provided by software partner Artwork Services USA. Distributor services include vector art, digitizing, virtual samples, flyers, brochures, image retouching, and product templates.
DistributorCentral members can take advantage of a special introductory offer of a 50% off flat discount for one month with offer code 1M50DIS. "In addition to the initial 50% off, DC members receive better rates than the general industry. We've made it very easy to order artwork and it's completely integrated with their account." said Jason Nokes, President of DistributorCentral.
"We are truly excited by our partnership with DistributorCentral to provide a critical service to its members; one that can be such a stumbling block for executing the order accurately and on time. We hope the members can take advantage of our special rates and speed of execution." said Varshal Thakor, President of Artwork Services USA.
For more information visit: http://distributorcentralartstudio.artworkservicesusa.com
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