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Clarity Consulting Helps Follett Higher Education Distribute Books Online

By: Chris Riedel

10/17/2008

Clarity Consulting has rolled out a new Wholesale Order Management System for wholesale book distributor Follett Higher Education Group, designed to streamline the book-buying process for both higher-ed institutions and their students.

The new system has been custom built to help Follett offer online book sales to customers without traditional brick-and-mortar or e-commerce storefronts. The solution gives Follett a range of e-commerce tools, including inventory allocation and posting to third-party retail sites; the ability to download orders from retail vendor sites; credit card processing capabilities; the ability to upload shipment information for real-time end-user tracking; and robust customer service application.

According to Clarity, the order management solution was built with Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and integrates with Follett's current system, as well as with a wide range of vendor sites. The system also features EPay, allowing the company to accept financial aid and gift cards as alternative forms of payment.
 
"For Follett, making the decision to extend our business to the Web was easy, but finding the right technology to enable it presented a challenge," said Irwin Gafen, director of wholesale system, Follett Higher Education Group, in a prepared statement. "We wanted a solution that would work seamlessly with our current systems, yet allow for flexibility and scalability where needed, and with Clarity Consulting we got it. From day one, Clarity's creativity, passion and professionalism helped deliver a system that not only drives real-world business results but also generates big brand benefits for Follett and its partners."

According to the announcement, the new systems has helped Follett fill more than 1 million orders in the eight months since its deployment.


About the author: Chris Riedel is a freelance writer based in Florida. He can be reached here.