Beaulieu Upgrades Dealer Website

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/7/2007 12:00:00 AM

Dalton, Ga. —

Beaulieu of America has launched a new version of its AccessBeaulieu.com website to make it more convenient, faster, and easier for its dealer partners to order products and retrieve account information.

AccessBeaulieu.com is the privately-held carpet and rug manufacturer's dealer-exclusive website for order entry and account administration. Originally launched in 1999, the site has been under re-construction for more than a year.

"We worked with a large group of dealers to ensure AccessBeaulieu.com would deliver the capabilities and functionality dealers wanted most," said Michael McAllister, vp, marketing information systems. "They consulted with everybody on the Beaulieu project team, which included top level executives and representatives from marketing, operations, customer service, and accounting, as well as IT."

Ease of use was crucial, McAllister said. "We made that a priority in designing the site. If it's not easy to understand and operate, it doesn't matter how much functionality it has, because it won't get used."

Internally, AccessBeaulieu.com will be key to changing some of the company's business methods. "It has already changed the way ... we make and transport carpet and the way our plants communicate and control processes and capacities," he added. "Now it will revolutionize our forward integration."