Becoming an E-commerce Entrepreneur

Introducing the B O X Partners Shopping Cart Website

Creating YOUR Competitive Edge

B O X Partners has revolutionalized the e-commerce path for you.

this amazing growth.

Internet Commerce, or e-commerce, has dramatically changed the land-scape of business in the new millen-nium. In today’s high speed world,

time is of the essence and e-commerce has proven to be a fast, effective and an efficient means for conducting business. According to the U.S. Census Bureau News dated February 15, 2008, “Total e-commerce sales for 2007 were estimated at $136.4 billion, an increase of 19.0 percent (±2.8%) from 2006. Total retail sales in 2007 increased 4.0 percent (±0.3%) from 2006. E-commerce sales in 2007 accounted for 3.4 percent of total sales. E-commerce sales in 2006 account-ed for 2.9 percent of total sales.” The con-sumer has pushed e-commerce forward

regardless of the economic climate. War, recession and terrorism have not slowed

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The Business of E-Commerce

Internet spending by small busi-nesses in the US is estimated to sur-pass $70 billion by 2012, up from $47 billion in 2006.¹ The number

of small businesses that buy online will grow at a compound annual rate of 4.3% through 2012. Overall, small business growth will drive online buying.¹ As B2B e-commerce spending continues to grow, so do the opportunities for distributors to join in its continual success. With less time needed to conduct an online trans-action, more transactions can be com-

B-to-B Online Spending

pleted in one day, thus increasing revenues and boosting profits. E-commerce has also helped expand growth opportunities by en-abling businesses to sell their products and services to a much wider audience. Another important aspect regard-ing Internet commerce is that it levels out the playing field between large and smaller businesses, essentially making everyone equal in the eyes of the consumer. Small businesses appear larger and more profes-sional when they have a strong web pres-ence to support the products and services

they offer. National Accounts and Fortune 500 Businesses have needs that can oc-cur regularly, but they may also require a source for large, non-repetitive applications. For example, a company may have a higly critical application that requires a one-time order for a large quantity of trusted and high quality 3M industrial product for all its 500 distribution facilities. An expanded offering of over 450 3M products that can ship same-day satisfies any ongoing or non-recurring need from large accounts.

% of total sales

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The Internet’s Effect on the Packaging Industry

Even though the Internet has be-come a mainstream in today’s business environment, it is still being underutilized by many in

the packaging and industrial supply busi-ness. Some may be overwhelmed with the concept of competing on the World Wide Web, while others simply do not have the time or financial resources needed to set up a website with shopping cart capabili-ties. For many distributors in the packaging industry, one could only dream

of having an e-com website marketing over 10,000 SKUs. Fortunately, this dream can now become a reality. During the last quarter of 2007, B O X Partners introduced the industry’s first fully functional private label shopping cart website that is within the reach of any size packaging distributor. With our help, you can quickly and easily establish your own e-commerce website, complete with a product offering of 10,000 packaging, shipping, and industrial sup-plies.

The ability to purchase these products online from a reliable source, makes the entire buying experience fast, easy and de-pendable. From the consumer point of view, Internet Commerce is considered a value added service, as it saves time by making the business process easier and more con-venient. By replacing the traditional meth-

od of going to the store to buy products, e-commerce has made it possible to “shop” any time of day. With a simple click of the mouse, customers can order what they need and have it delivered right to their doorstep. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Regardless of a company’s indus-try, size, or location, the advantages of hav-ing a website in today’s age are evident.

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular and efficient. Millions of people are utilizing the Internet on a daily basis to search for various products and services. With these numbers increasing regularly, any company would be ill advised not to offer a website as an effective and low-cost promotional tool.

¹JupiterResearch’s “US Online Small Business Market Category Forecast, 2007 to 2012” report, cited in eBusinessNews.info, a division of AIS Media, Inc.

Boost Your Sales with a Shopping Cart Website:There are only 3 ways for a business to grow: •GainNewCustomers •SellMoreProductstoExistingCustomers •IncreaseCustomers’FrequencyofPurchase

You have the opportunity to accomplish all 3 growth objectives with the help of B O X Partners.

Gain New CustomersYour company has the opportunity to gain new customers by offering an expanded selection of packaging and shipping products and by establishing your own web presence. Not only are you providing customers with a convenient means for purchasing product, you expand your target market by selling nationwide, not just locally.

Sell More Products to Existing CustomersYou have an opportunity to leverage relationships with your existing customers that are already buying from you. Since your customers are already choosing to do business with you, an easy transition can be made to sell more packaging and shipping supplies to them. In addition, by providing a broad one-stop shopping opportunity for your existing cus-tomer base, it will translate into convenience and potential cost savings for your customers.

Increase Customers’ Frequency of PurchaseThe quickest way for you to accomplish this goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to do business with you. Providing additional value to consumers will ultimately build loyalty and continue to win your company more business. Make it easy for customers to buy packaging and shipping products by establishing an e-commerce website and by marketing through multiple means such as online advertising (search engines, e-mail blasts), direct marketing efforts (catalogs, flyers, postcards), etc.

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Building an E-commerce Website

Creating Your Competitive Edge Through E-commerce

As a wholesaler of packag-ing, shipping, and industrial supplies, we are dedicated to helping your business grow by

making it easy to market and sell packaging products. With an offering of over 10,000 products, we can complement your exist-ing assortment or supply your entire offer-ing of packaging and shipping supplies. Through our Virtual Warehouse/Drop Ship Program, you do not take on any of the risks associated with stocking inventory. We stock all products and ship same-day directly to your customers, maintaining the same quality, trust, and service your cus-

tomers expect and desire. With only your company’s information displayed on out-going shipments and paperwork, the role of B O X Partners is invisible to your cus-tomers which enables your business to earn more perceived value as a premier source for packaging and shipping supplies. We understand that in order to be truly successful as a supplier of packaging and shipping supplies, you must effectively market your goods and services to custom-ers so they are familiar with your capabili-ties. Today, an overwhelming number of distributors still rely solely on a direct sales force as their primary revenue generating

function. Whether these sales people are commissioned or salaried, they still repre-sent a large percentage of monthly expens-es on an income statement. While direct sales people are invaluable in selling cus-tom product and equipment, having a fully functional e-commerce site enables you to manage your stock business in ways your sales team could never possibly achieve on their own. It is time to start utilizing a rev-enue-generating tool that you can control 100% of the time.

What does it take to build an e-commerce website in the packaging business? The developmental costs in

terms of photos, ad copy, search functions and technical integration can reach hun-dreds of thousands of dollars, and these costs will just get you started. Website maintenance is required daily to ensure ac-curacy of content and pricing. In addition, opportunity costs associated with taking on such an initiative may be the single largest cost component and, therefore, should not be overlooked. Who can afford to set aside all their daily business activities in order to devote the necessary time that is required to build a functional website? With a 26 month development time, the “boxpartners web team” thor-oughly researched the industry and con-structed a private label website that is su-perior to all others in the marketplace. By partnering with B O X Partners, your company has the oportunity to have a fully functional, personalized e-commerce store to offer your customers over 10,000 packaging and shipping sup-plies. We offer you e-commerce features that no other wholesaler can provide and save you the time and effort needed for site maintenance, while you enjoy the benefits

of a professionally designed web-store. Your new shopping cart website will al-low you to compete with the largest catalog and Internet companies and provides your customers with 24/7 access to product se-lection, pricing, ordering and tracking in-formation. Websites are available as stand alone or may be linked to your current site.

The following pages provide an in-depth look at the many features your new shop-ping cart website will contain (visit box-partners.com for a full listing of features and benefits).

Example: Pre-designed website template

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Shopping Cart Website Features

Customized Options - We offer eight website templates for you to choose from that can be changed as frequently as you want. Website headers may also be changed by simply uploading a new image file. Your website will also start out with generic (default) pre-scripted pages on the following topics: About Us, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions and FAQ’s. You will have the option to customize these to read what ever you like or keep the pre-designed default. The information can also be updated as often as you wish. Additionally, if your company sells custom items to a specific custom-er, these items can be set-up on your website so customers can order directly from your web-store.

Multiple Search Options/Catalog Page Viewer - Your customers will find the products they need quickly and eas-ily by using your Search and Advance Search features or by using the Product Index, Shop by Category section, or Catalog Page Viewer. The catalog view-er is a unique search option that enables your customers to view your full cata-log online by using either the naviga-tion bars or by “flipping the page” (by clicking on the corner of the page). It is a great way to display your offer-ings. Due to the expense of this feature, you typically only see this option on the largest companies’ sites. A custom catalog cover may be displayed on the button for this feature.

Example: Customized website template

Catalog page viewer software

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Detailed Product Information - Product details, ad copy and pro-fessional photos are displayed for all stock products. Fast access to product information promotes quicker buying decisions. As new items are introduced to your line, they will automatically appear on your site without any maintenance required by you. Your site will always be up to date with the newest offerings.

Flexible Pricing Options - You determine if you want to have fixed pricing, custom pricing by individual customer or a combination of both. Flexible pricing options allow you to sell your current customers at the price, sales tax and freight pa-rameters you establish while still being able to offer fixed pricing, tax and freight to the prospects who visit your site. There is also no hassle in keeping up with price changes. As your cost changes, so does your web pricing, making it easy to main-tain margins. You can also print reports showing customer specific pricing if you chose to utilize this option.

Fully Functional Shopping Cart - Your website will be able to handle a sale from beginning to end for your existing customers as well as new ones. Customers may add items to their cart directly from a section’s item list or from an individual item’s detail listing. Existing customers also will have the option to repeat an order they previously placed with you by clicking into the ‘My Account’ tab on your site. When done shopping, customers can easily checkout and pay via credit card and/or open account. You can define payment by your site or by individual customers. If you do not currently accept credit cards – we will gladly guide you through the set-up pro-cess!

No Maintenance Required - Our websites were designed to be maintenance free. You may opt to never make any changes once set up. You may set one level of pricing that applies to every customer or you can establish pricing by individual cus-tomer. Once set, prices will automatically adjust as your cost changes. And, as new items are added to the line, your custom-er will have immediate access to pricing without any effort on your part. The pricing levels you have previously established will apply!

State of the Art Site Security - Be confident your new web-site will be secure with Veri-Sign 128 bit Encryption Secu-rity and Hacker Safe protection.

End-use customers can use guides to choose the prod-uct that fits their needs

Technical data sheets list detailed product specifi-cations so customers can make more informed buy-ing decesions

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Back Office FunctionsTotal flexibility and ease was our goal in establishing how our distributor partners set up their website. Basically, all that is required is a domain name, determining the payment types you will accept, deciding how orders will be processed/ac-knowledged, establishing pricing, freight, tax parameters, web contact info and choosing your website header and template decision. We have written suggestions just to make it easy, but you can add your own personality in many creative ways. For example, many of our distributor partners have created a certain look or feel to their Private Label Shopping Cart Websites by including their own unique value proposition and customer appreciation programs.

Administration - User-defined functions are plentiful. You can choose a color scheme, home page photos, and text information to include on your homepage tabs (i.e. Contact Us, About Us, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, FAQ’s). All templates in-clude pre-scripted text. You can add your own text, or keep all or part of what we have pre-written. The website back office page gives a quick glance at the number of visits by day, month and year. You will instantly see the number of orders and sales your website has generated.

In terms of Order Processing, you determine how your orders will be released for shipment. You can also decide if you want to send customers order and shipping acknowledgements, if you want your own purchase order number added to the paperwork, and if you want to be reminded of open orders pending on your site.

You Choose:

Automatically Release Authorized Credit Card Orders (recommended) Manually Release Credit Card Orders

Yes, send an E-mail order achknowledgement to my customer No, do not send an E-mail order acknowledgement

Yes, send an E-mail shipping acknowledgement to my customer No, do not send an E-mail shipping acknowledgement Yes, please prompt us to enter a P.O. number when releasing orders No, I do not need a P.O. number referenced Yes, send an E-mail reminder for order “To Be Released” and “To Be Invoiced” No, do not send an E-mail reminder

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Default Site Pricing - Price your entire website through our uniquely designed mark-up system. All Boxpartners’ distribu-tors are priced on all SKUs – use our markup-based pricing software to price all product. The Pricing Matrix software allows pricing at site level, category, section, and SKU level. Total flexibility is built into maintaining pricing, while keeping the process quick and easy.

Customer Maintenance - Individual pricing can be established by account (no limit on the number of end-users you can set up). Customize your freight program for each of your end-use customers.

Customer Maintenance Options: Tax Exempt Exempt From Tax: Yes No Resale Tax Number:

Order Acknowledgements Automatically send when order is released? Yes No Default Shipping Acknowledgement Automatically send when order is shipped? Yes No Default

Payment Options Open Account Credit Card Site Default (OA/CC)

1st Column Markup %

2nd Column Markup %

3rd Column Markup %

4th Column Markup %

5th Column Markup %

Items with 5 Columns 100 80 70.25 60 50

Items with 3 Columns 90 80 65 52.15

Items with 3 Columns 85 75 65

Items with 2 Columns 98.78 62.35

Items with 1 Column 110

Billing Address

Company Name

Address

City

State

Zip Code

Contact Name

Phone Number

Fax Number

E-mail Address

Shipping Address

Company Name

Address

City

State

Zip Code

Phone Number

Acct. Ref. Number

Sales Ref. Number

You choose markup percentage

Utilize our Quick Customer Set-Up Function! This feature allows you to upload your entire customer list onto your website and instantly create a unique password for each customer. You will then have the option to automatically send each customer an e-mail an-nouncing the address of your web-site as well as the customer’s login information

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Company/Name: Preferred end use customer

Choose One: Site Default - Actual + 5% Always at No Charge U.P.S. Charge U.P.S. Charge + % Mark-up U.P.S. Charge + % Mark-up + $ Handling Fee

Customer Specific Pricing by columns:

Custom Items:You can also add custom products for your customers so they can place orders directly from your site. After a custom item is ordered, you will receive an e-mail showing their order complete with a purchase order number and any special instructions or comments your customer may have for the item.

Stock Number Description

Item 1 Custom Item 1 Edit Remove

Item 2 Custom Item 2 Edit Remove

Item 3 Custom Item 3 Edit Remove

1st Column Markup %

2nd Column Markup %

3rd Column Markup %

4th Column Markup %

5th Column Markup %

Items with 5 Columns 100 80 70.25 60 50

Items with 3 Columns 90 80 65 52.15

Items with 3 Columns 85 75 65

Items with 2 Columns 98.78 62.35

Items with 1 Column 110 Set as many individual users as you like. All have individual pricing capabilities.

Order ID Sold To Order Total Order Date Payment Type

1940 Preferred End-Use customer $457.24 09/26/07 C/C

1888 Preferred End-Use customer $313.56 09/28/07 O/A

Custom Printed Boxes

Order Manager - Choose how to manage your orders. Utilize B O X Partners’ massive inventory for same day shipment, or ship from your own warehouse.

*You can choose to edit an order and ship from your warehouse or just select a specific product within the order.

Sales Tax - We have even made it easy to collect sales tax. You have the option to collect by State, County or Zip Code. We even included an option at checkout for tax exempt customers.

Sales Tax by State Definition:

State and Sales Tax Rate

Sales Tax by County and Zip Code:

Zip, County and Sales Tax Rate

Meta Tags - If you choose to advertise your website on a Search Engine (highly recommended), we can also help you apply meta tags to your site.

Home Page Meta Tags:

The tags will only appear on the home page of the website

Entire Site Meta Tags:

The tags will appear on every page of the website (except home)

Category Titles Meta Tags:

Meta tags and page titles may be defined for each specific category on the site. Tags defined here will replace tags defined above for their assigned category. A page title and meta tags may be added to a category by clicking the category name in a tree.

A red category name indicates that a custom title or meta tags has been defined for that category. A green category name indicates that one of the category’s subcategories has a custom title or meta tags defined.

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MADE EASY!Use Our Quick Upload Feature

Order ID Sold To

Order Total

OrderDate

Payment Type Release Status

1895 ABC End-User $277.00 9/13/07 C/C Release In Progress

1892 XYZ End-User $137.93 9/12/07 O/A Released Cancel

1894 PDF End-User $137.93 9/12/07 O/A Released In Progress

Visit www.BoxPartners.com

Take Your Own Website Tour!

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The only thing constant in life is change. In business, companies must learn to adapt to change or risk being left behind. The

packaging distribution business is no ex-ception. This industry has been changed by the emergence of non-traditional dis-tribution companies who recognized the possibilities in utilizing a direct market-ing channel as a means to grow business. While this change has been taking place, the majority of traditional packaging dis-tributors continue to rely solely on direct sales. The fact that the “non-traditional” players are capturing a large volume of business without an experienced team of sales professionals is an indication that direct marketing through catalog and websites is an extremely viable market-ing strategy. In fact, it is so viable, it has become a necessity. Technology in all forms can best be described as an efficiency tool. Some-times efficiencies are at the top of man-gers and owners’ minds, and other times, achieving new levels of efficiencies seems so overwhelming that the first step toward improving them is considered an impossible task. The single most important ef-ficiency tool available in the packaging distribution industry is a fully functional shopping cart website. The creation of a mechanism that educates customers and has an order-entry system is not only effi-cient, it is mandatory for future survival.

Survival of the FittestThe Face of the Packaging Industry is Changing...Don’t Be Left Behind

Without having a shopping cart website, you are missing out on a signifi-cant and lucrative business opportunity, not to mention, losing business to other companies that do. Don’t wait any lon-ger. Now is the time to create your unique presence on the Internet. It has never been easier to broaden your customer base, offer a value-added service for your customers, and increase revenue. By partnering with B O X Partners, you have an opportunity to create your own e-com website and be-come a one-stop-shop for all packaging

and shipping needs. At this time, the only action you need to take is to visit boxpartners.com and sign up! Creating your competitive edge is our ongoing commitment and we will con-tinue to offer you more marketing tools than any other wholesaler. A website that is easy to navigate and has 10,000 packaging items holds the key to your future success. Fortunately, it is now available, and you can have it working for you within days.

Benefits of Your Own Shopping Cart Website•Marketsyourcompanybrand

•Enablesend-userstopurchaseonline(value-addedconvenience)

•Offerscustomersimmediateaccesstodetailedproductinformation(images,ad-copy,selectionguides,product

specifications, etc.)

•Extendsordering/customerservicehours(availabletocustomers24/7)

•Broadensyourexposure-sellnationwide,notjustlocally

•Additionalrevenuegeneratingtool

•Increasesyourcompetitivestrength(enablesyoutocompeteamongothersonline)

•Strengthensyourcompanyimage(showsyouareadaptingtothechangingindustry)

800-74-BOXES • www.boxpartners.com

B O X Partners is the nation’s largest wholesaler of shipping, packaging, and industrial supplies. For the last 20 years, B O X has offered customers unparalleled product selection, reliable drop-ship services, and strategic marketing assistance. The in-stock packaging supply program contains over 10,000 SKUs, including the nation’s largest wholesale selection of corrugated cartons, poly bags, and mailing bags. B O X Partners is an authorized wholesaler for many quality brands including 3M, Sealed Air, Intertape Polymer and Ivex. For more information visit boxpartners.com.