ASCII Unveils Reverse Auction Tool For Solution Providers

The reverse auction request placed by the solution provider must be a minimum $5,000 order, and distributors that want to bid are required to reply within 24 hours and ship the order within a week, said Alan Weinberger, Chairman and CEO of The ASCII Group.

"We already have a couple of hundred thousand dollars in bids in the system," said Weinberger. "We think millions of dollars in product will flow through this annually."

ASCII developed the tool in only six weeks after an ASCII member advisory board requested the reverse auction tool.

Solution providers said the reverse auction tool has the potential to save them significant time in comparing prices at different distributors.

Risa Stolly, president of A-Prompt, a Lehigh Valley, Pa.-based reseller specializing in software licensing, said the new tool is a "huge time-saver, because now we can send out bids to several distributors at one time." Without the tool, A-Prompt would have to spend time checking the prices from multiple distributors, she said.

"We may be shifting business to some distributors who we didn't realize carry the product," said Stolly. "Distributors may also be more aggressive in quoting us prices because there are other competitors in the mix. I am excited to be using it. I am hoping it will lower costs not only in prices for products, but also the time necessary to quote bids out to different distributors."

Stolly said she is hoping that in the future there will be more flexibility in terms of the $5,000 minimum order. She said she was uncertain about exactly what percentage of A-Prompt's product purchases will go through the reverse auction process. "We will be using it at least several times a week," she said.

Resellers using the reverse auction tool electronically find the products they want, create a bid request that includes information on how soon they need a response, and submit the bid. The bid is then immediately e-mailed to the authorized ASCII distributors. The distributor contacts the reseller directly if they decide to respond to a bid request.

D&H Distributing has already received several bid proposals from solution providers, said Dan Schwab, vice president of marketing at the Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor.

"This creates a tool to make the bidding process more efficient. Solution providers don't have to call multiple times to multiple distributors," Schwab said.

The program likely will not impact distributors' margins by creating increased competition to win the bids, Schwab said.

"The resellers are already shopping for the best deal. This will make the process more efficient," he said.

Bob Huang, CEO of Synnex Information Technologies, agreed.

"We're working with smaller resellers who generally have a little more cost [to do business with. The more efficient the connection, the more efficient the whole process," Huang said.