Year in Review: Dot's New Website Experience

By Kevin Baum, Product Manager of Digital Commerce

 

Back in the 1990s, Dot Foods saw the computer code on the walls. With the web and cell phones entering people’s homes, we knew we had to get ahead of the digital curve—not to look cool or trendy, but to support you, our business partners. That’s why we launched the Dot Expressway in 1997, one of the first websites in the industry to make product available for distributors to order online. 

 

But 1997 was a long time ago, and technology doesn’t look the same. We knew that to support your business, we had to upgrade our digital experience. To that end, we launched DotFoods.com/Shop in 2020.

 

2020 was just the beginning. Throughout the past year, we’ve invited more business partners to the site and developed new and improved features based on your feedback. Let’s review our progress this past year in making DotFoods.com/Shop fit for your business in 2023 and beyond:

 

Expanding Access

 

A total of 34,000 business partners now have access to DotFoods.com/Shop. These users no longer have access to the Expressway, making our new site the place to go to conduct business with Dot. It’s the only place where you can get visibility into products and information from Dot day and night.

 

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Key Improvements

 

Dot Foods has always been about more than selling products. From our founding in 1960, we’ve been in the business of solving problems for our business partners through providing superior service and developing opportunities based on feedback. 

 

We sought to do the same with DotFoods.com/Shop. We knew you needed more than an ecommerce site, so we considered the other business tasks you commonly perform and the challenges you face in day-to-day operations. Your input has been at the center of the decisions we’ve made when developing and updating our website.

 

With that in mind, we launched and/or updated the following features and functionality in 2022 to support our business partners:

 

• Enhanced product information, including:

• Dates when price changes take place

• Eaches pricing

• Improved price brackets 

• Pallet configuration information

• Order minimums and multiples, when available

• Distributors can submit forecasts with just a click of a button. Products that customers submitted forecasts for on our website saw a 15 percent service level increase.

• National accounts and select suppliers have access to additional inventory metrics.

• Based on feedback, we made improvements to the accuracy and relevance of recommended alternatives, helping you find replacements for out-of-stock products.

 

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Resources

 

Information iRes power in our industry. DotFoods.com/Shop provides a hub for resources to help business partners make decisions and manage their relationship with Dot. We continuously update our help center to reflect our new and improved features. 

 

This year, we also added the following resources:

 

• Product content best practices for suppliers 

• FAQ page to answer common questions about accessing and logging in to our website

• Definitions of cut codes and availability statuses

• Video tutorials

 

Shared Growth, Shared Future

 

In 2023, we’ll give our broker and Mexico distributor partners access to DotFoods.com/Shop. Once we have all our business partners on board the website, we’ll retire the Expressway, making the transition to DotFoods.com/Shop complete.

 

But that won’t mean our work is done. “Shared Growth” is at the heart of our Brand Promise. To grow together, we need to look to the future together. We’ll continue relying on your feedback to improve our website and meet your changing needs, so we can provide a digital experience that can support your future growth. 

 

From the thousands of users who made the switch to the new website to the Dot team members who’ve worked tirelessly to create a digital experience that’s fit for our business partners, thank you for making this launch a success and setting the foundation for future growth. 

 

If you’re a Dot distributor, national account operator, supplier, or buying group from the U.S. and Canada, visit our website or set up an account today. To become a Dot customer or supplier partner, get started here.