A local private equity group has launched another retail website, this time with its sights on stealing customers from the biggest players in the office supply industry.
Boxwood Capital Partners last week launched OfficeSaver.com. The site lists 29,000 products and aims to undercut companies such as Staples and OfficeMax.
“We have a lower cost. We don’t have to price our products the same as physical stores, so we can price based on cost structure,” said Patrick Galleher, a managing partner at Boxwoods.
This is the firm’s third retail website. In 2008, they bought Coffee Wholesale USA and that company’s website. In October 2009, the firm created SnackWarehouse.com (you can read an RBS about that story here).
The new websites aim to provide more products to the 75,000 customers Boxwood said use Coffeewholesale.com, such as snack food for the break room and now office supplies.
“It’s always been part of our plan to roll out additional sites in key cross-selling type of markets,” Galleher said.
All the retail websites have a similar look and feel.
But unlike Coffee Wholesale, Boxwood is not warehousing each office item at its Texas warehouse. Instead it has partnered with 41 warehouses across the country and will ship directly from those warehouses to the customer, Galleher said.
And this isn’t the last retail website. Galleher said he anticipates adding a website for industrial supplies – items such as solvents, gloves and goggles – and also an online tennis equipment shop. That last one might be up within a few months, Galleher said. (Boxwood also owns Midlothian Athletic Club.)
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to [email protected].
A local private equity group has launched another retail website, this time with its sights on stealing customers from the biggest players in the office supply industry.
Boxwood Capital Partners last week launched OfficeSaver.com. The site lists 29,000 products and aims to undercut companies such as Staples and OfficeMax.
“We have a lower cost. We don’t have to price our products the same as physical stores, so we can price based on cost structure,” said Patrick Galleher, a managing partner at Boxwoods.
This is the firm’s third retail website. In 2008, they bought Coffee Wholesale USA and that company’s website. In October 2009, the firm created SnackWarehouse.com (you can read an RBS about that story here).
The new websites aim to provide more products to the 75,000 customers Boxwood said use Coffeewholesale.com, such as snack food for the break room and now office supplies.
“It’s always been part of our plan to roll out additional sites in key cross-selling type of markets,” Galleher said.
All the retail websites have a similar look and feel.
But unlike Coffee Wholesale, Boxwood is not warehousing each office item at its Texas warehouse. Instead it has partnered with 41 warehouses across the country and will ship directly from those warehouses to the customer, Galleher said.
And this isn’t the last retail website. Galleher said he anticipates adding a website for industrial supplies – items such as solvents, gloves and goggles – and also an online tennis equipment shop. That last one might be up within a few months, Galleher said. (Boxwood also owns Midlothian Athletic Club.)
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to [email protected].