Fastenal Essay

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Fastenal is a global company. It has over 2,700 stores nationwide and multiple stores in Europe and Asia. There is also a fastener manufacturing division in in Asia. Fastenal’s target markets are manufacturing plants and industrial companies. Within those facilities Fastenal’s contacts would be purchasers, plant managers, maintenance, machinist, EHS managers, and mechanics. The competition in the local markets are Grainger, MSC, and other local fastener shops. The competition has larger territories with fewer representatives servicing those areas. It makes it harder for the reps. to really connect with their customers. They also drop ship their product. Product might get to the customer faster, but it is the customer’s responsibility to put the product away. This method causes the customers more of their own labor costs. Most companies are responsible for freight charges of the product shipments. Most of the competition sell similar or the exact products that Fastenal does. The larger …show more content…

This gives the customer and employee a chance to form a closer business relationship. It also gives the Fastenal rep. more time to tending to customers needs. Fastenal tries to stock a majority of product in their distribution centers and stores. This cuts down on customer freight expenses bc it is either already on hand or Fastenal can use it’s trucking system instead of a third party logistics company to transport the product. Fastenal’s website is not as user friendly as the competition. There are certain features like the punch out catalog that make it easier to use for customers set up with an online account. Fastenal employees also have the means to adjust customer discount at their discretion. Even though wholesale price is set, they can discount the product to a certain level to obtain a sale. Fastenal does not advertise like it’s competition, instead they use word of mouth and referrals to gain more

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