Houghton Mifflin and Epylon.com, an online marketplace for institutional buyers, have reached an agreement to establish a business-to-business online storefront on the Epylon.com site, offering instructional materials to government and school institutions. The HM storefront will initially offer materials approved for California school districts, and materials approved for other states will follow.
Nader F. Darehshori, CEO of Houghton Mifflin, said, "The agreement augments our sales and distribution channels and provides us with another avenue to reach new and existing customers." The deal will offer products from HM's school division and McDougal Littell, core instructional materials for grades k-8 and 6-12, and supplemental materials from the Great Source Education Group for grades k-12.
Margaret Sherry, a spokesperson for HM, described the deal as "one-stop shopping for institutional buyers." She said that HM is the first educational publisher to sign an agreement with Epylon.com.
Epylon.com is based in San Francisco. The site is free for buyers (users must register) and lists thousands of products and suppliers. The site offers news, lists events and posts product and service reviews. It also allows users to compare prices, and send quotes and bids electronically.
