Veritiv Canada

Veritiv Canada (formerly Unisource Canada)
 

Veritiv, formed through the merger of Unisource and Xpedx in 2014, is the well-established distributor of over 50,000 paper, packaging, and maintenance supply products. In partnership with HTC since 2000, the company continues to improve overall efficiency by frequently rolling out new features for their e-commerce ventures with sustained development. Consequently, Veritiv stays on the forefront of B2B transactional Web applications.
 

Veritiv continues to emphasize the convenience and ease of online ordering in an attempt to drive new and existing business through the Veritiv website that is fully-integrated with their enterprise resource planning system. The e-commerce solution significantly improves Veritiv’s operational efficiency, but more importantly, helps the company to better serve its clients by delivering more value. 
 

The second version of Unisource.ca launched in 2003; it was a full-scale transactional site which required meticulous integration with Unisource’s existing ERP and legacy systems to manage large volume client contracts and pricing changes. Over a year in development, the new and sophisticated e-commerce site received a final nomination in the B2B category at the 2003 Canadian E-Business Leadership Awards. Following the success of the new website, Unisource decided to develop a satellite site under separate branding, to market directly to niche clientele. HTC produced Paper Only in 2006, aimed at printers seeking streamlined access to the Pur Value paper brand, for under ten percent of the development budget of the original e-commerce platform.
 
The third and most recent version of the Unisource site, launched in 2008 and later rebranded onto VeritivCanada.ca in 2016, introduced numerous new features and interface changes to the website. Customers such as Fairmont Hotels, Second Cup, and Staples are able to manage ordering privileges according to their own company hierarchy, opt to order on account or by credit card, and check their Order statuses. Automated online sales allow customers to purchase from over 50,000 products at customized contract prices, while increasing Veritiv’s online marketing and reducing their marketing costs. Additional features were added post-launch, such as Web promotional discounts to maximize online sales, ad units to promote and increase visibility of features products, and a mini-cart to enhance usability.
 
In 2009, HTC launched another clone website project for Unisource, this time targeting redistribution clients. Developed under the brand name FORDIS, the website maintains separate branding on a separate front-end, while the client accounts are administered through the same back-end portal as the Veritiv site.
 

Administration Manager, Media Centre, EasyText Editor, Membership Manager, Mailing List Manager, News Manager, Poll Manager, Careers Manager, FAQ Manager, Links Manager, Promotions Manager, Forms Manager, Site Statistics and Search Tools.
 

HTC used IgnitionWeb to create a new sales platform and ordering system integrated with legacy system integration to improve their CRM and overall efficiency. This highly customized application includes (among others) Veritiv Customer Manager to handle client accounts and privileges; Promotions Manager to feature products and manage promotional banners; MicroSite Manager to select templates and create pages for individual purpose-built sites; and Forms Manager to create and simple, easy-to-use online forms to collect essential user-input data.
 

Veritiv Customer Manager, Tools & Resources Manager, MicroSite Manager, Forms Manager
 

Now on their third-generation website, Veritiv looks to HTC’s innovation to continually optimize their online sales, with phased and gradual improvements reducing their costs. This approach has maximized the functionality of their application, and reduced the impact on their bottom line. The original website positioned the company as an e-commerce leader in the supply industry and served as the basis for the structure and branding of their American site. Since then, Veritiv has become an essential part of their customers’ daily lives with increased communication and services, and decreased distribution and sales costs. The latest version of VeritivCanada.ca continues the company’s long string of successful Web applications developed by HTC.