Linking the Key Players

Desktop Corporation began creating VetMall.com by determining the key partners needed to field a best of breed solution. "We expect to have most of the 46,000 vets at 26,000 clinics in the U.S. on board," says Mark Morrison, director of Marketing at VetMall.com. "The key to this was selecting the best distribution partner to handle fulfillment, returns and relationships with the vets and we did that when we reached an agreement with The Butler Company—the only nationwide distributor dealing exclusively with the veterinary industry."
Upon reaching an agreement with Butler, Desktop began phase one of VetMall in March 1999, by connecting veterinarians with consumers on the Internet. "VetMall is unique in that it allows an individual veterinarian to develop a Web site using a simple wizard," says Morrison. "These sites showcase local information provided by the veterinarian, but also feature rich content provided by leading organizations in the vet industry, as well as interactive areas for children and educational information about pets and farm and ranch animals."
VetMall plans to leverage the relationship between the veterinarian and his/her clients to create traffic on the site. Says Morrison, "We believe that the consumer will enjoy greater value from purchasing products from a source they trust, their veterinarian."
VetMall launched the e-commerce portion of the site on October 1, 1999, offering more than 3,500 products for sale. "The key to supporting the existing pipeline is the fact that the local veterinarian will receive a margin on all products sold through the site. One of the interesting things about this marketplace is that vets are the only medical professionals who are authorized to prescribe and dispense products through their clinics directly to their customers," says Morrison. "Currently VetMall.com is the only online marketplace for this. We are not just selling dog food and play toys like other dot-coms out there."