Intermediary Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer

Obtain Steps: The Obtain steps include all activities preceding the selling of the product. These activities include the costs of identifying potential suppliers and stocking the product.

B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product

1. Money – Reduce the money the customer uses with the product

B.
Reduce the customer's spending on People, Purchases or Capital costs the customer uses with the product itself

No.	SIC	Year	Note
1	0000	2001	Many Internet exchange sites have recently shut down and virtually all the rest are badly behind schedule in implementing their business plans. The main assumption behind the exchanges was wrong. Faxes and telephones are just as efficient as the Internet in this field. They also offer a crucial flexibility that the Internet can't match, allowing Hunt to vary its prices while keeping the variations confidential and preserving good will. Internet exchanges also force 1% to 2% transaction fees.
2	2273	1996	Carpet Max, who franchises over 600 retail carpet facilities across the United States, offers its members a centralized EDI interface with major suppliers, a tailored human resources program, a nationwide promotional service.
3	2834	2005	For years, the relationship between drug wholesalers and manufacturers centered on "speculative buying." Under this system, wholesalers could purchase drugs ahead of manufacturers' price increases, then hoard the drugs until higher prices kicked in. Drug manufacturers are trying to put an end to this practice. They want to keep supply and demand more in balance. To that end, drug makers decided to impose inventory management agreements, or IMAs. Under these agreements, drug makers pay wholesalers not to speculate with inventory. But those payments don't make up for the wholesalers' lost gains from speculation.
4	3600	1986	Tractor trailers and 40-ft long shipping containers have to be unloaded at airports, seaports so packages can be inspected. Bechtel put together an X-ray system so sensitive, it can peer into a truckload of goods and spot a single pistol – saves days.
5	3600	1986	Tractor trailers and 40-ft long shipping containers have to be unloaded at airports, seaports so packages can be inspected. Bechtel put together an X-ray system so sensitive, it can peer into a truckload of goods and spot a single pistol – saves days.
6	5054	2000	Ingram has found an increasing role in delivering the widest range of computer products right to the customer's doorstep. So, while high-powered PC-retailing chains such as CompUSA, OfficeMax and Staples continue to rely on Ingram to deliver their supply, the real growth in Ingram's business is coming from warehouse suppliers and, most important, dot-com retailers. With a network of warehoused inventory and delivery capabilities already in place, companies such as Buy.com and Gigabuys, Dell's Web vendor, are using Ingram for inventory and delivery.
7	5399	2001	Amazon has a new tale of brick and mortar partnerships with the likes of Target that will put Amazon on the road to profitability. Target is estimated to be doing anywhere from $100 million to $450 million in sales online each year.

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