Sam’s Club SVP of Merchandise Business Services on the Importance of Supporting Small Business
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We all know Sam’s Club as the discount membership club where members can shop and get great value on bulk items for our home and everyday use. But what many of us don’t know is that Sam’s Club is quickly becoming one of the greatest resources supporting small business owners and their operation. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Seong Ohm, Senior Vice President of Merchandise Business Services about the many services and products they offer directly supporting small business and why, as a corporation, they’ve places such a large importance on serving this market.
Many may know that Sam’s Club offers a membership specifically for businesses that allows them to purchase office supplies, technology, and many other products. They also cater to the time restriction of most small businesses by offering special club hours so business members can avoid waiting in long lines and other great time-saving benefits like easy re-order, purchase history lists and online ordering for delivery or quick pick-up.
But what many small businesses may not know is that over the last few years Sam’s Club has been working to put together the most comprehensive package of business services that any retailer offers. According to Ohm, Sam’s has created their package based on the six main pillars of business: Legal, HR / Payroll, Finance, Technology, Marketing and Healthcare and they have successfully secured partnerships with who they consider the best in each industry sector. This includes companies like LegalZoom, Execupay, TrueCar, Lending Club, First Data, The Small Business Administration, and Web.com.
“We did a lot of research when building this program, and we discovered that there were three main things that small businesses needed from us: to save time and money, help in running their business more efficiently, and a connection to other club members to market their services,” says Ohm.
Sam’s has hit the mark on meeting business customers needs by streamlining everything in their online business solution center. You can apply for a loan in just 4-5 simple steps or order business cards in just minutes. Additionally, you get a discount as a member, 20% as a standard member or 25% as a prime member.
When it comes to competition, Ohm admits that Sam’s Club welcomes all competition because it forces them to become better. And while she doesn’t focus on the competition when developing her programs, she does keep a watch to what they are doing in order to see any new opportunities that may exist in the market that her members may want.
(Listen to the full interview below)
This is box title“It’s not about profit for Sam’s Club, it’s more about serving the small business market and their needs,” says Seong Ohm
Ohm believes the success of their organization as a whole, and their business services programs comes from Sam’s Club understanding that in order to best serve their customers they need to provide the best value they can by leveraging their size and scale and to offer full transparency to members, so they know what they are getting.
If you’d like to check out the available business services and programs offered by Sam’s Club, you can do so by visiting their website.
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