Excel Dowel & Wood Products Launches Web Strategy to Reach Smaller Cabinet Shops and Contractors Online


New Website from ThomasNet also helps launch architectural woodworking line

Itasca, IL-May 20, 2010-Excel Dowel & Wood Products, a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality wood component parts for the cabinet, furniture, door manufacturing, building and craft industries, recently launched a new Internet strategy with help from ThomasNet. With the resurgence in home remodeling and repairs, Excel Dowel saw new opportunities to increase sales to smaller cabinet shops and contractors through a more effective website. The company also wanted to launch a line of architectural woodworking products with the site.

Excel Dowel's customers range from original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) of contract furniture to the contractors that build kitchen cabinets for remodeled homes. In addition to mainstay wooden products like dowel pins and rods, its breadth of items includes furniture legs, shaker pegs, and new architectural products like kitchen island columns, corbels, onlays and mouldings.

Excel Dowel's original website was set up more as a "corporate brochure" than as a channel for selling its 400-plus products online. And what the company sold did not always show up in search engine queries. If small cabinet shops or contractors needed a "1/8-inch white birch dowel rod," for example, they might not find Excel Dowel online. In addition, because the company's new target prospects often placed smaller orders, it needed a site that would sell to them in a cost-effective way.

ThomasNet's Web Solution is powered by the Navigator Platform, which includes tools to help industrial companies make their sites easier to find online, and to serve as effective 24/7 sales channels. Excel Dowel's site includes an online catalog with rich detail on all of the company's products-making it likelier for search engines to "index" it. This increases opportunities for new prospects to find Excel Dowel during product searches, browse through its products, and locate the information they need to make a buying decision. Prospects who click to the site can now:

o Search by major product categories, such as Dowel Pins and Biscuits; Wood Buttons and Plugs; Cabinet and Furniture Parts; and the Architectural Woodworking category. They can also click links to items such as hand rails or knobs or enter part numbers.

o Conduct parametric searches according to the exact attributes/dimensions they need, such as length, diameter, or type of groove.

o Compare several products on one page, and review product images and technical specifications as they move closer to a final selection.

o Submit Requests for Quotations (RFQs), enabling Excel Dowel to service and sell to prospects faster, and help with custom orders.

o Order and pay for selected items using shopping-cart technology.

"Our new website has positioned us for greater success moving ahead," said Shaun Sanders, vice president and general manager of Excel Dowel & Wood Products. "As a new sales channel, our site is already out-performing our expectations. The time prospects spend on our site, and the number of pages they typically view, have nearly doubled, and we're reaching many new prospects in our target markets. Our ThomasNet consultant is a partner in our success."

To see Excel Dowel's new site, please visit: www.exceldowel.com.

About Excel Dowel & Wood Products

Excel Dowel & Wood Products of Itasca, IL is a full-service manufacturer and distributor of a wide variety of wood component products for the cabinet, furniture, door manufacturing, building and craft industries. We have an inventory of over 150 million plain and pre-glued dowel pins, dowel rods, architectural components, wood turnings and woodworking related items that are ready for immediate shipment. Our unique capabilities allow us to supply a wide variety of customers from large multinational OEM's to small hobby shops with virtually any wood product required.

About ThomasNetSM

ThomasNet's Web Solutions help industrial companies leverage Internet technologies to succeed in today's online environment by improving the performance of their websites. At the core of each Web Solution is the Navigator Platform, ThomasNet's proprietary technology designed to provide industrial buyers with all the tools and functionality they need to make intelligent buying decisions online. Today, thousands of industrial businesses are leveraging the power of the Navigator Platform to increase sales, improve customer relationships, expand into new markets, and solve critical business issues.

ThomasNet Web Solutions is part of Thomas Industrial Network which includes ThomasNet.com, ThomasNet News, and Web Traxs®. Thomas Industrial Network offers a range of Internet marketing solutions to help industrial suppliers achieve their business goals through the integration of detailed content and leading web technology.

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