Web is the Rx for Moore Medical

Medical and surgical supplies cataloger Moore Medical is putting its money where it hopes new customers are: the Internet.

The New Britain, CT-based business-to-business mailer hopes to become a Web portal for the medical community: an online source that doctors, specialists, and physician’s assistants can visit for news – and to buy supplies for the office, says president Linda Autore.

Only $1.5 million – or 1.3% – of Moore’s 1999 sales of $118.5 million came from the Internet. But as of August, Moore’s Web traffic had doubled from the 12 months prior, Autore said. And having invested in computer telephony integration in ’99, the company is now evaluating catalog management systems that will integrate all aspects of its business, from customer service to inventory management.

And in June, Moore acquired a controlling interest in online magazine Podiatry Online, which now links the cataloger to some 4,200 podiatrists. Moore already serves more than 8,000 podiatrists nationwide. The next month, Moore bought Merginet Medical Resources, a Web-based resource center for emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

“We are using our database to distinguish customers’ buying patterns relative to e-commerce and our traditional business,” says Autore, who does not rule out the possibility of acquiring other medical-related Websites. “We will remain focused on developing meaningful content for our site.”

Despite its newfound emphasis on Web marketing, Moore has no plans to stop selling via print catalogs, telephone support representatives, and field sales. Printed catalogs serve as an advertising vehicle, Autore says, plus, the company’s core audience of doctors aren’t yet the most savvy practitioners when it comes to e-commerce.

For the quarter ending July 1, Moore’s sales were $30.2 million, up a modest 3% from $29.3 million for the comparable quarter of 1999. But investments in the computer telephony integration system eroded profits: Moore Medical suffered an 82% decline in earnings, to $79,000 from $428,000.