Kinnek (http://www.kinnek.com), an online procurement platform that helps restaurants get customized price quotes from suppliers, announced today the launch of Kinnek Explore (http://www.kinnek.com/explore/public).
Kinnek Explore is the most advanced tool available for businesses to find suppliers for specific products and services. It is different from traditional supplier search engines because it leverages Kinnek's vast database of actual quotes submitted by suppliers for thousands of unique products. As a result, Kinnek Explore provides a much more focused search capability than simply browsing through large generalized directories of suppliers.
“It is critical for business owners and procurement managers to know which suppliers are able to provide the exact products they are looking for,” says Karthik Sridharan, co-founder and vice president of business development at Kinnek. “The lack of clear, organized information about the product offerings of suppliers is a major hindrance to businesses in improving their purchasing processes. Kinnek Explore offers a unique solution to this problem.”
Kinnek Explore is powered by Kinnek.com's main product offering, which is an online platform that enables businesses to request customized quotes from suppliers for their purchases.
Each time a supplier submits a quote for a specific product on Kinnek.com, information about the quote is added to the Kinnek Explore database, enabling other businesses that are researching the same product to find that supplier.
“That's the true power of Kinnek Explore, it is constantly improving,” says Rui Ma, co-founder and vice president of member services at Kinnek. “Each time a supplier submits a quote on our platform, it increases the search capabilities for other businesses. It's the network effect being harnessed to solve a business-to-business problem.”
Take the example of a restaurant that wants to purchase a 48-inch thermostat controlled gas griddle. Since this is a very specific product, it would be difficult for the restaurant to find the suppliers that offer this piece of equipment. The restaurant would have to browse through a general directory of foodservice equipment suppliers and make phone calls to individual suppliers, which would be tedious and time-consuming.
With Kinnek Explore, this process becomes incredibly simple: the restaurant can search for “48-inch gas griddle thermostat controlled,” and instantly get a list of suppliers that have recently submitted quotes for similar products.
