To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the launch of its e-commerce order entry system, Carlson is launching its âGOC Club,â? membership in which is available to those companies routinely placing orders online through CQO2. On 6 September 2000, G.O. Carlson Inc. launched CQO2® â “Customized Quotes and Orders Online” (www.cqo2.com), a patent pending e-commerce quotation/order entry system designed for users of “custom-cut-to-order” specialty metal plate and plate products. Today, two years later, CQO2 has proved successful both from a financial, and more importantly, a user-acceptance perspective. The newly launched GOC Club provides its members with access to a series of “thank you” incentive programmes. In addition, Carlson is providing a special anniversary offer to encourage others to join the club.
H.L. “Kep” Kephart, president of G.O. Carlson Inc., said that currently over 25% and 15% respectively of G.O. Carlson Inc.’s quotes and orders for specialty metal plate products are being generated through CQO2, with these percentages continuing to rise. The majority of registered users are from North America, but the user base also includes individuals/companies from 25 countries around the world. Contrary to the fate of a number of other metal e-commerce sites which have since disappeared, CQO2 turned cash flow positive within six weeks of its launch and recovered all its expenses within 18 months of its introduction. Plans are under development to further expand CQO2’s product offerings.
