CRE Builds Fulfillment Marketplace January 12, 2009 The incentive marketplace targets newcomers
By Alex Palmer
Awide-ranging group of incentive fulfillment companies, media partners and industry organizations have come together in an effort to simplify reward delivery and incentive program management. This month, Solata Technologies, The Motivation Show and the Motivation Strategies brand, as well as the Incentive, Successful Meetings and MeetingNews brands launched CorporateRewardsExchange.com (CRE).
CRE functions as a business-to-business marketplace where incentive brands and fulfillment companies offer merchandise and rewards systems to qualified end users and resellers. The end users can order products for bulk purchase or drop shipping, set up a points-based program for their company or get information on running an incentive program from the site's partners.
Among the incentive companies currently signed on to offer their services are Certif-A-Gift, Harco Industries, Lapine, Partners for Incentives, Rewards Direct by Maritz, Rymax Marketing Services and Quality Incentive Company. All provide branded rewards, gifts and incentives at wholesale prices for corporate use. The site aims to provide a central location where incentive companies and end users can buy incentive products directly from fulfillment companies for use in both points-based and corporate gift programs.
With an estimated $30 billion of revenue spent on incentive rewards going into retail rather than through industry channels, the organizations behind CRE see this as a way to help educate corporate end users that there's a whole industry available to help them manage their rewards and gift programs. The Web site promises, "to power even the smallest program profitably."
"Very few people know this business, so there is a huge number of 'do-it-yourselfers' and people who buy direct through retail who don't take advantage of this market and expertise," says Bruce Bolger, founder and president of Tarrytown, N.Y.–based Selling Communications.
According to Bolger, CRE will leverage the number of brands involved in the program to communicate about their products and services with a broad audience of qualified end users who might be looking to upgrade their current program. End users are able to choose from the programs available or reach out to experts for help with designing their programs.
CRE allows both the end users and resellers working with them to buy incentive merchandise at the corporate price for use in rewards programs.
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