Client’s Niche
Blink Supplies started off their GSA activities as a company providing packing and shipping supplies. Since partnering with us, they have significantly expanded their offerings to include
office supplies, medical supplies, tactical gear, janitorial supplies, industrial tools, and even electronic equipment.
Goals and Challenges
The primary goal was to grow the client’s GSA business, which we have achieved successfully by helping them expand their product range and overtake competitors, in order to solidify their place as a prominent participant on the GSA arena. Another key challenge was maintaining compliance with GSA requirements, which we address thoroughly, by regularly managing product compliance and advising on strategies to avoid suspensions due to order cancellation scores, ensuring they deliver the best results to their federal customers.
To be ahead of the game, we need to be on the look out constantly for the changes and new regulations, as well as continuously monitor the various market segments, while at the same time securing our client’s position and constant growth.
It is imperative, to always be there for the client when needed, to help them navigate the occasional rough waters that most vendors encounter from time to time, over the course of conducting GSA business, from both procedural, as well as technical standpoints.
Services Provided
Blink Supplies contacted us for full GSA contract management. They were awarded their GSA contract in April 2023 and began working with us in May 2023. We have been managing the client’s MAS contract and supporting their development ever since.
The main types of tasks we have performed are as follows:
- additions of new products within various segments of the market
- ongoing price analysis to ensure the competitiveness of the client’s offerings vs. other vendors with the same products,
- sales price reductions, to attract more attention from the buyers
- market “opportunity” reports, advising of most profitable SINs, products, manufacturers, and help finding the right suppliers of such goods.
- price increase modifications, to insure that the client’s listed GSA prices are in line with net cost increases issued by client’s suppliers
- Fedmall registration and catalog maintenance, for purposes of extending more product offerings to the Department of Defense
- all document preparation, approval by GSA, and subsequent uploads on the GSA system
Around a month ago, Blink Supplies also started using our QuickSales as their Order Management System, since they now have too many orders to process manually, as they used to.
Achievements
When Blink Supplies first came to us, they only had 67 products listed under a single 3PACK SIN on GSA Advantage, primarily focused on packing supplies. Disappointment with having obtained the Schedule and a deep concern caused by the inability to change course had set in; Client was at a loss as to how to improve the situation and get things moving in the right direction. They had been operating in the dark, simply listing products on the catalog that they were able to source, even before coming to the federal arena, not taking into account the narrowly niched peculiarities of the federal marketplace, what the government needs and buys. Their originals listings simply were not attractive and demanded enough, to generate any substantial business volume. And here is where Price Reporter was able to turn things around completely, utilizing its unique hands-on knowledge and experience, as well as its various IT capabilities, intended to help GSA vendors derive the most benefit out of their contract.
Under our direct guidance and supervision, Blink Supplies have now expanded to 8 new SINs and currently offer about 100,000 products, with an additional 300,000 products in the process of being added. Initially, client only had one reliable supplier that they could procure from, to support their GSA business, but through our market intelligence capabilities and extensive knowledge of the market within numerous segments, our continued multi-faceted reporting and guidance, they were able to establish relationships with several new suppliers. This has led to a greatly expanded pool of product offerings and a much broader interest from the buyers, resulting in a very substantial increase of order volume.
The client started with zero GSA Advantage orders at the time they came to us for service, but after we were done adding more products to their existing SIN, as well as more new SINs with highly demanded, popular products at competitive prices, the flow of sales surged dramatically, to a level exceeding 400 orders placed monthly on the GSA Advantage. Their monthly revenue has grown from about $30,000 in all of 2023 to over $200,000 a month during the past few months, totaling so far to almost $1.1 million in 2024, with three months still left in the year!
Having added a wide array of segments to the portfolio of client’s offerings, we have also situated them strategically, to participate in more solicitation bids on the GSA eBuy, which opens up a whole new realm of lucrative contractual opportunities. The target in 2025 is to grow the annual revenue to $2.5 million, through the GSA Advantage and GSA eBuy combined.
