Successful entrepreneurs have a gift for recognizing unrealized opportunities and creating profitable solutions. Wholesale Online Group LLC, founded in Brownsville, Ore. in 2014 by Jerry Springer and Mike Dillow, is a member-based, online marketplace that allows businesses to save up to 40% on their OSHA-required personal protective equipment (PPE), workwear, and first aid products.
Starting at just $19 per month, members of Wholesale Online Group can take advantage of wholesale prices that are usually reserved for large-quantity resellers, such as Lowes or Home Depot. As 15 million U.S. businesses regularly make these kinds of purchases, Wholesale Online Group would be tremendously successful if even just a fraction of those businesses became members.
The value proposition for a Wholesale Online Group membership is compelling: At $59 per month, members can purchase unlimited product. And with an average savings of 30%, it only takes $200 of monthly purchases to cover the cost of a membership. Businesses can cancel their membership at any time, and if they keep their membership active for three years, the fourth year is free.
Springer worked in this industry for many years before starting Wholesale Online Group, and he maintains strong contacts in the business. However, he recognizes an imminent change of the guard at many of those companies, and he will need to reach those new customers where they shop: online.
In order to hit their goals, Springer said Wholesale Online Group will need to branch into digital marketing, and they are eager to begin working on a strategy with Oregon RAIN and newly-appointed Linn-Benton venture catalyst, Corey Wright.
“I think organizations like RAIN are very helpful. They know most of the answers and they are a great resource for anyone who is just starting out in business. Mike and I aren’t young folks, and we’re used to building businesses the old way: beating the streets and working your butt off. So, it will be very beneficial to work with people who are more digitally savvy,” he said.
“Wholesale Online Group is one of my first clients, and I am very excited to work with them. Meeting Jerry, hearing his story, and seeing his passion to grow his business confirms one of our core beliefs at RAIN: great ideas can come from anywhere, and there are traded sector businesses with high-growth potential right here in Linn and Benton counties,” said Wright.
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