E-commerce Supports Seed Division's Explosive Growth,Profitability

Land O'Lakes CROPLAN GENETICS division has grown dramatically over the past decade from a small regional company to the third-largest crop seed company in the United States. One reason for this dramatic growth is the company's adoption of technology, particular its seed ordering Web site, SOAR 21. Today, more than 95% of all sales orders are placed directly on the site.

Karen Thilges, Seed Sales and Marketing Administrator, Quality Improvement Leader, said the division began considering e-commerce options in the mid-90s, as business grew and employees found it difficult to keep up with the seasonal flood of orders. Until Seed moved online, they manually processed hand-drafted orders that were sent to the organization's Fort Dodge, Iowa, offices. Thilges recalls weeks when the pile of incoming mail was three-feet high.

"It got to the point where it was virtually impossible to stay on top of things," says Thilges. "We recognized that we were not giving the level of customer service that our customers deserved. Internally, we were not able to supply our Product Supply Managers with timely and accurate information either."

An e-commerce solution seemed ideal for the situation. Seed developed a plan and eventually launched SOAR 21 in August 1998. The site, found at https://www.e-markets.com, allowed customers to purchase CROPLAN GENETICS seed via the Internet.

Over the past five years, the site has evolved from largely transactional page to a more robust e-commerce site. It serves as a communications vehicle with the capability to distribute audience-specific messages and the availability of an expansive documents library. The site's Plot 21 tool can be used to manage plot planting and harvesting data and help users with product recommendations and comparisons. Users can create numerous reports for their own use. Plus, visitors now have the option of ordering Syngenta, Mycogen or NK brand seed on the site, or linking to FarmSouce to purchase Monsanto seed.

"Our strategic partnerships allow us to stay in front of the customer," said Thilges. "We feel it's an edge over the competition because the user never has to leave the site to order a variety of different seed brands."

Since it was launched, the number of SOAR 21 users has grown four-fold, from around 350 in 1998 to nearly 1,400 today. These users account for 20,000 orders annually. The technology ensures the Seed division will be able to keep up as that number grows.

"SOAR 21 has been an invaluable tool," said Thilges. "We constantly receive compliments from our customers and internal users. It was clearly the right investment at the right time."

Posted: March 10, 2004

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