Channel Intelligence Helps Deliver Sales Leads To Solution Providers

The service links prospective customers surfing a vendor Web site directly to online channel partners that have available product inventory. As of late November, more than $1.7 billion in sales leads had been sent to participating solution providers and retailers, estimated Alan Fulmer, president of Channel Intelligence.

About 115 e-tailers and Web commerce-capable services companies are participating in Channel Buy Links. To join, solution providers must be authorized by a vendor that has opted to use the service, said Robert Wight, chairman and CEO of Channel Intelligence, Celebration, Fla. Channel partners upload product availability data to the service once a day, and vendors can run reports assessing partner performance, Wight said. Vendors pay a fee based on referrals, but solution providers don't have to pay to be listed on the service.

"We start at the manufacturer and then support the channel," Wight said.

OneCall, the mail-order and e-tailing division of retailer Huppins Hi-Fi, Photo and Video in Spokane, Wash., has been part of Channel Buy Links since April, when it was introduced to Channel Intelligence by Panasonic, and it now represents five vendors through the service.

"The response has been phenomenal from every vendor we have linked with. We knew that would be the case," said Paul Lipton, vice president of OneCall. "I'm sure that Channel Intelligence has a lot to do with our growth this year."

David Keith, director of Web development at OneCall, said the integration between his systems and Channel Intelligence has been smooth. For example, traffic from the Panasonic site has increased almost tenfold since OneCall went live on the service, he said.

The next service coming up from Channel Intelligence will be Product Pinpointer, designed to give Web site visitors information about VARs, systems integrators and other solution providers that don't necessarily conduct e-commerce, Wight said. The service will emphasize partner attributes such as integration and maintenance services, software development capabilities and geographic location, he added.