FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   "3M Embarks on mission to sell dental products via 'extranet'" Sales to its normal distribution market online are in works for other units, too Advertising and Marketing - Minneapolis Star Tribune by Bob Geiger   Maplewood-based 3M Co. today will formally introduce its first electronic commerce initiative with a so-called "extranet" that enables large clients of 3M's Dental Products division to order their goods via the internet.   The Interactive Communications Enterprise (ICE) page, which is accessible through the dental products portion of 3M's internet site, "is the first example I've been able to find of e commerce" of 3M products sold through conventional business channels, said Bob Nelson, interactive communications manager for the Dental Products division.   Unlike existing online direct-to-consumer sales of 3M's Post-it-Notes software and 3M Precise Mousing Service products, the dental divisions online effort mainlines Internet orders directly to 3M's normal distribution network said Nelson, who recently won 3M's Corporate Circle of Technical Excellence Award.   Created by New Brighton ad agency Risdall Advertising, the ICE site originates as a research project to measure doctors' preferences about purchasing products and supplies online, Nelson said.   The Dental Products division manufactures and sells a variety of products used by dentists, including adhesives, restorative materials, cements, impression materials and crown and bridge products. All items in the division's product catalog can be brought via the ICE page, which has been in beta testing until today.   Privileged Information   ICE is called an extranet because it extends information outside 3M that is not readily available to all customers of the division. In that sense, Nelson said, it differs from the public Internet domain and internal company networks, which are commonly called intranets.   Nelson said ICE is designed "to enhance out relationship with existing customers." Access to ICE is being afforded to the major U.S. dental division customers as a perk - much like Dayton Hudson Corporation's Regard card, which gives frequent shoppers special privileges unavailable to regular card holders.   The dental division's customer base ranges from single practitioners to large dental practices to HMO's. Many customers, including a fair number of the 100 customers who are being offered access to online ordering and buying products online, Nelson said.   So, in addition to the 100, Nelson said he is allowing a small number of tech-savvy practitioners to order their goods via the Internet. During beta testing, the first order arrived July 8 at 5:57 pm., proving that many dentists order their supplies after busy days with patients and, possibly, after product sales reps have left the office for the day.   Online ordering makes sense for the Dental Products division because it serves customers around the world. The division also has a strong presence in Europe, which is likely the target of subsequent ICE pages.   But Europe's many languages pose and online challenge for the division. To bridge the language barrier, Nelson said that local-language/local content pages are being prepared for customers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.   Nelson said the the e-commerce soon will be practiced by other 3M divisions or business units, noting that one unnamed division plans to introduce online sales in the next month.   Besides providing an ordering advantage and encouragement for larger customers to order online, he said, the ICE site five the Dental Products Division, which holds leading market shares in all product segments the company competes in, another advantage over its competitors.     For more information, please contact:   John Risdall, Chairman Risdall Advertising 2475 15th St. N.W. New Brighton, MN 55112 ph: 612-631-1098 fax: 612-631-2561 e-mail:   back
Home | Galleries | The Usual Suspects | Urban Core | Word | Information Booth | Express | Site Map | Search Marketing Risdall Advertising Agency Interactive • 550 Main Street • New Brighton, Minnesota 55112 Toll Free 1-888-RISDALL (747-3255) • Phone 651-286-6700 • Fax 651-631-2561