New Web Platform Hits Million Dollar Sales

In Business, July-August, Vol. 29, No. 4, p. 13

“We make it extremely easy to create a sustainable planet for future generations,” says Tom Kemper, president and founder of Dolphin Blue based in Dallas, Texas.

A PROVIDER of ecoresponsible office supplies, Dolphin Blue is a 14-year-old online retailer that offers products with a minimum 20 percent post-consumer recycled material with many items containing 100 percent post-consumer recycled material. After $1.2 million in sales in 2006, early indications project a healthy 20 percent increase in volume for 2007.
“People frequently ask how I managed to prosper selling recycled products, and I often ponder that question,” says Thomas Kemper, founder of Dolphin Blue.“It comes down to Dolphin Blue's commitment to creating a sustainable planet. We only sell environmentally responsible products. A lot of people recognize our passion and want to do business with us as a result of our unwavering dedication to the environment.”
Founded in 1993, Dolphin Blue grossed approximately $50,000 in its first year of business and only offered two products: recycled copy paper and recycled toner cartridges. The company now carries hundreds of products, such as business cards, filing folders, daily planners and calendars, letterhead, laser printer paper, file cabinets made of recycled steel and printed and unprinted envelopes among other items. All printed papers are printed with soy-based ink and most are certified processed chlorine free.
The company never received any outside funding and managed to grow steadily year after year. It quietly weathered the 2001 dot.com collapse and the subsequent recession with modestly profitable years. Even though the promise of Internet technology failed to deliver revenue with so many of the early online retailers, Kemper attributes much of Dolphin Blue's success to his investment and belief in technology.
“The paper and printing industry is generally antiquated and inefficient,” Kemper added. “We have invested significantly in our Web platform and leveraged existing distribution channels.”
Kemper also credits the success of his business to the expanded number of environmentally responsible products available today and to the improvement in the overall quality of products available.
“We have paper that is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled material. There's not one new fiber in this paper, yet it has a brightness of 95. Further, it was whitened without using chlorine,” Kemper adds. “With advances in the industry over the last ten years, you cannot tell the difference between recycled and virgin paper, even when people want bright, crisp whites. There is no reason to buy virgin material products anymore.”
Though any consumer or business can buy product from Dolphin Blue, the new platform has exclusive areas for government agencies because the Social Security Administration has entered blanket purchase agreements with Dolphin Blue and the U.S. Postal Service has been a long-standing customer.
Another addition to the site - Dolphin Blue now offers bundled packages of business cards, high-quality brochure paper, envelopes and letterhead for businesses, ranging from start-ups to high-growth oriented companies.
“In essence, what Dolphin Blue does for the business or individual seeking to purchase products congruent with their values, is to offer any item needed in an office environment in the most environmentally responsible version available. We make it extremely easy to create a sustainable planet for future generations,” Kemper concluded. Dolphin Blue has promoted the responsible stewardship of Earth's resources by encouraging the conscientious purchase of everyday business supplies. Product packages and labels are made using only post-consumer recycled materials and are printed using only soy and vegetable-based inks.
To contact Dolphin Blue, visit their website at www.dolphinblue.com or call 800-932-7715.

Copyright 2007, The JG Press, Inc.