Office furniture company elbows their way in the office supplies market

In the year 1990, an American Indian entrepreneur Don Kelin saw a market niche in ergonomic office furniture, giving birth to CADDO Solutions. However, his company, CADDO Solutions (named after his Oklahoma-based tribe), evolved and isn’t just a niche player anymore; it has ventured into the office supplies market in a major way and is now in competition with Office Max and Office Depot, two of the office supplies companies considered as the big boys in the office supplies market.

CADDO competes with larger players on price, service (since there are actual people to answer phones, not phone trees or automated recorded instructions, when a customer calls in) and technology. On top of that, there are a few more things about the office furniture company that can be considered a competitive edge.

Kelin’s company brings a Native perspective to all his business dealings. It employs 60 - 70 percent Indian employees in CADDO’s headquarters and about 30 percent of its business done with Indian tribes or casinos, though, its biggest client still remains the federal government. Respect, honesty, humility and reciprocity are the company’s core values, which reflect the things Kelin learned growing up, putting emphasis on his tribal upbringing.

CADDO worked towards becoming an expert in ergonomic furniture and had an initial business mix of 90 percent office furniture and 10 percent office supplies, however, CADDO’s concentration is now focused on the latter. The company was an early proponent of offering their office furniture (more than 25,000 office products) online with the use of their website, with 90 percent of its business over the last four to five years coming through that channel. The channel allows 24-hour ordering with a 12-person national call center that operates 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. in every time zone to take in calls and handle their product orders on the national level.

Apart from office furniture and supplies, CADDO also offers promotional products, coffee and break room services, printing, computer supplies, janitorial supplies and hospitality procurement through a network of about 70 wholesalers at 100 sites around the country. Next-day delivery is standard, and its fill-order ratio on office supplies is 98 percent.

The company has 25 employees in Denver and about 20 more sales representatives around the country. Some of those employees have been with CADDO from the start, which says is that not only do they have committed employees with many years of service with CADDO Solutions, they employ people who are knowledgeable in the office furniture/supplies industry.

Don Kelin was named a top minority entrepreneur in 2001 by Fortune Magazine, among other awards, and has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal. He is also involved with the local Native community. Having a Native owner and top officers also gives CADDO a stronger and more competitive feel in the office furniture market.

Kelin’s company, CADDO, seeks to maintain extreme agility with customized office furniture and highly customer-oriented service, which increases customer satisfaction.

The company believes that being Indian makes all the difference since they are good at what they do. And that somehow is seen in the passion that envelops the people who work in CADDO and the atmosphere the values seem to permeate, which makes everything glamorous and exciting even when most of us would not view and describe office supplies or office furniture as such.

Posted on: Desking

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Office furniture company elbows their way in the office supplies market

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