New offerings, improvements to ShopWELS program
Filed Under: purchasing program, ShopWELS, synod
In an effort to make an easier and more consumer-friendly experience for WELS congregations, schools, organizations, and individual members, a new e-commerce Web site—as well as a greater selection of discounted products from new vendors—were recently added to ShopWELS, the synod's collective purchasing program. The program, which began two years ago, is designed to help WELS entities save money by pooling their buying power.
"The whole concept of a purchasing program is the more people that buy through the program, the lower the prices go for everybody," says Mr. Martin Spriggs, WELS' chief technology officer. "And the ultimate goal of the ShopWELS program is to help these groups save as much money as possible so they can spend it on ministry."
ShopWELS offers discounts on many items that congregations and schools need, including office products, computer hardware and software, and copiers. For example, an office chair that normally costs about $563 is only $286 through ShopWELS. Vendors are willing to provide this pricing because of the higher-volume orders that are placed through ShopWELS.
"We get quite a bit of traffic from our elementary schools and some of our Lutheran High Schools are taking advantage of [ShopWELS], but right now I'd say by and large our churches don't make use of it as much as they could and should," says Spriggs.
No single program can guarantee the lowest prices on every product it offers—that's why input from WELS shoppers is so important. "Because of the program's size, we can usually work with our vendors to meet or beat any price," says Spriggs. "We just need our churches and schools to tell us the price that needs to be beat."
In addition to a more customer-friendly Web site, Spriggs says many new products and vendors have been added to ShopWELS in the past two years—and he hopes more WELS groups will take advantage of these offerings. "Really the goal is to make good of use of God's resources through a program like this," says Spriggs. "And the synod is a great way to do that—we're together not just in doctrine, but also in trying to do things like this, things that would be hard for us to do individually."
For more information or to see available discounts and products, visit www.shopwels.net
