Benefits of EDI for 3PL’s and Logistics Service Providers
If you're a third-party logistics provider (3PL), EDI may or may not be on your radar. Often, it’s not explored unless a trading partner has asked you to pursue it as a condition of working together. In that case, it’s often viewed as a business expense, but in truth,...
How to lead a successful EDI change management process
To keep pace in a constantly evolving retail business world, organizations often need to implement enterprisewide changes affecting their processes, products, and people. Process change is a fact of life in businesses today. It can be difficult, and people often...
SPS Tower celebrates unveiling of Women Who Code floor
On Friday, November 15th, 2019, SPS Commerce celebrated the grand reveal of its fully reimagined 8th floor at SPS Tower. Highlighting inspirational and historical women in technology, the WOMEN WHO CODE 8th floor opened for normal operations on Monday, November 18th,...
![Retail analytics builds buyers’ trust [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Benchmade-case-study-SPS-Commerce-1080x675.png)
Retail analytics builds buyers’ trust [Case Study]
Benchmade is widely recognized for its quality pocket knives, making it a preferred choice of law enforcement officers, government officials, and outdoor enthusiasts. The company offers more than 300 SKUs at outdoor, hardware and sporting goods retailers nationwide....
How to excel at E-Commerce order fulfillment
As the 2019 holiday season quickly approaches, it’s no surprise that e-commerce order fulfillment is capturing headlines and mindshare. On-time shipments, BOPIS/BORIS options, and recognizable packaging can make or break a consumer’s shopping experience. If done...
![Jonny Pops serves up small business growth with full-service EDI [video]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Screen-Shot-2019-11-18-at-11.23.32-AM.png)
Jonny Pops serves up small business growth with full-service EDI [video]
Jonny Pops is a small business growth story rooted in making the world a better place, one frozen pop at a time. Connor Wray and his dorm mates at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, became retail entrepreneurs with an idea for a smoothie on a stick. They...
2019 pre-holiday e-Commerce preparedness checklist
We're in the last few weeks before the biggest pain points for this year's holiday online shopping experiences are known. This is the time to batten down the hatches and make sure everything is ship-shape, allowing you to execute as fantastic of a holiday season as...
Finding new business systems for Omnichannel growth
Find Your Next Business System Faster As your growing company looks to 2020, what’s on your to-do list? Is it finding a new business partner, replacing or updating business systems, or outsourcing your warehousing functions to a third-party logistics provider (3PL)?...
10th SPS Commerce auction raises $35K for charity
A grassroots initiative with heart For a decade, SPS Commerce staff (known as Team SPS) has enlisted the help of our customers, partners, and employees to donate thousands of items to the company’s annual charity auction. This year’s event was hosted at the SPS Tower...
![Sell-through analytics at sales’ fingertips [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Leatherman-Case-Study-blog-sps-commerce-e1572552996714.jpg)
Sell-through analytics at sales’ fingertips [Case Study]
Leatherman has been synonymous with multi-tools, innovation, and Oregon. With a leadership position in the sporting goods market, the company’s sales teams wanted to see sell-through information by retailers. They wanted to know where sales were off, inventory levels...
TCSW19 recap and the importance of business culture: Insights from Minnesota CEOs
Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW) is always a busy and inspiring week for entrepreneurs and business professionals across the region. SPS Commerce was a sponsor of the 2019 event, and also hosted an executive panel at SPS Tower in Minneapolis. Karin Lucas, Chief...
How 3PLs can uniquely solve diverse and customized shipping requirements
If you’re a third-party logistics services provider in 2019, your world is undergoing rapid evolutions. With the booming increase in smaller online businesses and Amazon’s 2-day shipping the norm, 3PL’s and Logistics Service Providers are being tasked with helping...
SPS Commerce partners with Girl Scouts to host day-long coding event
On Saturday, October 26, 2019, SPS Commerce was delighted to host “Think Like a Programmer with SPS Commerce” for 50 girls and their troop leaders in partnership with Girl Scouts River Valleys at our downtown Minneapolis location A partnership centered on a shared...
Streamlining vendor onboarding and discovery for retailers
Vendor onboarding and discovery can be a challenge. When expanding product assortment, retailers are used to the process being an incredibly slow one. It’s not atypical for them to spend as many as eight weeks just sourcing vendors for a particular new product, and...
![Nurturing the Minnesota technology community [PODCAST]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Women-in-Tech-Breakfast-and-fireside-chat.jpg)
Nurturing the Minnesota technology community [PODCAST]
Like every hub of innovation, technology professionals in Minneapolis and the surrounding Twin Cities area love to get together for events and activities where they have the opportunities to share their knowledge and expand their skills by learning from others. It’s...
![Drop Shipping Webinar: Five requirements for success [VIDEO]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Drop-Shipping-101-webinar-1080x675.png)
Drop Shipping Webinar: Five requirements for success [VIDEO]
This on-demand drop shipping webinar will share the basics you’ll need to understand what’s required to start your own drop shipping program. Created in partnership with ShipStation, we've also included some great tips and advice on how to drop ship successfully. To...
Utilizing 3PLs to drive order customization
Sometimes, working in the supply chain can be like herding cats. Between the varying requirements and shifting retail logistics landscape, it’s an ongoing challenge. Suppliers and manufacturers are generally consistent in how they make their products. They have to...
SPS Commerce IN>TORONTO19: An evening of e-commerce insights and conversation
E-commerce companies are tempted to grow quickly and through every channel open to their business. However, the experts on the panel at our Toronto event had some insight and advice for entrepreneurs and small business owners. These topics were part of the panel...
Enhancements now available for Fulfillment for Sage 500 leveraging MAPADOC technology
By Siobhan Finders, Senior Product Specialist, SPS Commerce With the recent Sage 500 compatibility release, the SPS team has made several enhancements to our Fulfillment System Automation solution for Sage 500 leveraging MAPADOC Technology. Our full-service EDI team...
How Artificial Intelligence is shaping the retail supply chain
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become mainstream––interjecting itself into almost every aspect of our modern, technology-based lives. The potential of AI to enhance everyday business actions and strategies within the supply chain has been a topic of great...
VIP Products scales business with full-service EDI
Founded by entrepreneur, Steven Sacra, VIP Products manufactures pet toys for today’s toughest dogs and their owners. The business started in his garage and quickly grew as national retailers discovered his product line. For Sacra, growth required automation,...
![Automate your purchase order to invoice reconciliation [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-25-at-4.13.25-PM-1080x675.png)
Automate your purchase order to invoice reconciliation [INFOGRAPHIC]
Everything is moving faster these days, and but moving too fast and making errors can cost you. This is particularly true for a purchase order to invoice reconciliation. PO to invoice reconciliation compares PO's to invoices and shipping documentation to make sure...
Q4 SPS Commerce events at a glance #MeetSPS
Fall has finally arrived in full force and we’re rapidly approaching the end of 2019! It’s been an exciting second half of the year for us at SPS Commerce with the recent addition of MAPADOC to the SPS family, and our successful multi-city IN>Events19 networking...
Oracle EDI Automation: using the eCommerce Gateway without a translator
Of all the enterprise ERPs out there, Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) arguably has the least out-of-the-box functionality when it comes to EDI. This means that when you buy Oracle you get the platform and the modules, but you’re on your own when it comes to actually...
How good is your 3PL knowledge and expertise?
With more than 16,000 3PLs to choose from as part of $1.3 trillion (yes, a "T") industry, what criteria does a supplier use to evaluate this choice? How do they know the service provider is good at what they say they do? What could the logistics company provide to...
![Streamlining & simplifying item data management [PODCAST]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Simplifying-item-data-management.jpg)
Streamlining & simplifying item data management [PODCAST]
When you’re managing item data for hundreds or thousands of products, things can get out of hand real fast. That’s especially true if your processes include manual data entry task – anything performed by a human runs the risk for errors. Every retailer or vendor has...
SPS IN>Events19: Connections & conversations for small business entrepreneurs
SPS IN>Events19 focuses on creating conversations that connect successful retail, e-commerce leaders, and our retail technology experts, with small business entrepreneurs. Kicked off earlier this year, we've held these networking events in a variety of cities,...
A collaborative approach to vendor supplier scorecarding
Vendor supplier scorecarding brings to mind an image of penalties imposed by retailers or grocers onto their supplier community. Scorecards are often associated with chargebacks for noncompliance in areas such as late shipments, incomplete shipments or even improperly...
![EDI 101: Five signs your business could benefit from an EDI solution [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-25-at-2.27.39-PM-1080x675.png)
EDI 101: Five signs your business could benefit from an EDI solution [INFOGRAPHIC]
An EDI solution opens up communication directly with trading partners and connects multiple business systems, giving you a seamless, end-to-end solution. Sounds dreamy, right? The name Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) just doesn’t do it justice. But what does EDI do,...
Catch up with SPS at Twin Cities Startup Week 2019
About Twin Cities Startup Week 2019 SPS Commerce is proud to call Minneapolis its home and be part of one of the events that make this region great: Twin Cities Startup Week. Every October, more than 17,000 entrepreneurs, tech leaders, sales and marketing...
Shamrock Foods: Success in easy vendor onboarding
Grocery distributor, Shamrock Foods, was experiencing growth and looking for more ways to expand business automation across its retail supply chain, this included easier vendor onboarding. While the food company has used EDI solutions with suppliers for years, they...
Free up your order processing schedule with EDI automation
With the summer behind us, autumn has officially begun, and with this change in season, the busy holiday season is now underway as is a return to standard daylight time. Retailers nation-wide are rejoicing at the ability to use that ‘extra hour’ to manage their retail...
Part 3: Distributed Order Management for Third-party Logistics
By Shravan Talupula, Product Management, Director at Deposco & Carina Wingel, Marketing Director at Deposco As demand from logistics grows, it is apparent 3PL’s are serving their customers in more ways than storing and moving inventory from A to B. Today...
Automation: The understaffing antidote in retail
Now that 2019 holiday planning has begun in earnest, or if you’re hyper-organized its already complete, retailers and suppliers alike are scrambling to address the worker shortage that is plaguing the industry. With unemployment at a nearly 50-year low, finding...
![Retail Order Fulfillment in the Digital Era: How Vendor Partnerships Enhance Execution & Profitability [White paper]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Order-Fulfillment-in-the-digital-era-white-paper-SPS-Commerce-1080x582.png)
Retail Order Fulfillment in the Digital Era: How Vendor Partnerships Enhance Execution & Profitability [White paper]
Over the past decade, many terms—including multi-channel, omnichannel, integrated retail, unified commerce, retail order fulfillment, and others—have been used to describe the changing nature of shopping. All of these terms reflect the same goal: to create an...
![Retail system readiness for the holiday season [PODCAST]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Retail-system-readiness-for-the-holiday-season-Podcast.jpg)
Retail system readiness for the holiday season [PODCAST]
The next episode of Mastering the Retail Game is here, just in time to get you pumped and ready for the holiday shopping season. Every year, retailers and their trading partners revamp their processes, update their technology, open new sales channels and fine tune...
Choosing between supplier portals and EDI platforms
Your business's lifeblood relies on a steady flow of retailer orders through your supplier portals but managing them all can be a nightmare. Vendors we work with here at SPS often share just how difficult it can be to manage multiple supplier portals (also called...
Meet Sarah de St. Aubin: #TeamSPS advocate for volunteerism-powered disaster relief
Welcome to #TeamSPS True Blue Stories #TeamSPS True Blue Stories is a blog series dedicated to highlighting the inspiring stories of SPS employees who bring our values to life in unique and meaningful ways. Sarah de St. Aubin, a volunteerism advocate is our first...
Lyons Industries adds EDI automation, eliminating manual purchase order management
Home improvement supplier eases drop-ship order compliance In 2015, orders for Lyons’ bathtubs and showers were coming in rapidly from home improvement retailers including Menards, Lowes, Home Depot, HD Supply, and many others. Processing orders required many manual...
Transform your Tuesday with EDI system automation
When you first opened up shop, processing documentation wasn’t that big of a task, but something significant happened: business is booming. But now your monthly document volume is growing and processing them through your web portal is eating up vital employee hours...
![DOM: Distributed order management for brands [Part 2]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Distributed-Order-Management-Inventory-Allocation-header-1-1080x675.jpg)
DOM: Distributed order management for brands [Part 2]
By Shravan Talupula, Product Management, Director at Deposco & Carina Wingel, Marketing Director at Deposco Retailers and brands face similar challenges but use very different business processes that require different functionality in a DOM system. In this second...
The Humble Co. meets retailer EDI requirements to stay focused
Helping suppliers who help the planet Founded in Sweden, The Humble Co. is creating a revolution in personal care through its innovative health and wellness products that are eco-friendly, stylish and socially responsible. The supplier began with bamboo toothbrushes...
Streamline grocery supply chain management with full-service EDI
Manual order fulfillment processes are becoming a thing of the past in the grocery supply chain. That’s because consumers are rapidly embracing new grocery supply chain management services like click and collect (also known as buy online, pickup in store or BOPIS)...
![Vendor selection criteria considerations for full-service EDI [White Paper]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Vendor-selection-criteria-considerations-full-service-EDI-SPS-Commerce-1080x675.jpg)
Vendor selection criteria considerations for full-service EDI [White Paper]
As we approach the end of 2019 with third quarter well underway, many CFO’s, controllers, and operational leaders are evaluating their retail technology stacks and vendor selection criteria in identifying EDI technology vendors and platforms to help drive better...
4 tips on EDI vendor selection criteria for finance leaders
As we approach the end of 2019 with third quarter well underway, many CFO’s, controllers, and operational leaders are evaluating their retail technology stacks and vendor selection criteria in identifying EDI technology vendors and platforms to help drive better...
IN>MPLS19 spurs conversations on cloud technology, small business entrepreneurship and mentoring
Sharing small business inspirations from the dorm room to the dinner table Inspiration for a small business can come at any time and for many reasons. Take the panel of entrepreneurs that spoke at SPS Commerce IN>MPLS19 last week. One panelist co-founded a business...
![Distributed order management for retailers and E-tailers [Part one]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Distributed-order-management-for-retailers-and-E-tailers-1080x675.jpg)
Distributed order management for retailers and E-tailers [Part one]
By Shravan Talupula, Product Management, Director at Deposco & Carina Wingel, Marketing Director at Deposco Part 1: Distributed Order Management for Retailers and E-tailers In this first installment of a three-part series, we dive into three of the five key...
Annual SPS employee appreciation BBQ serves up more than food and fun
On August 14th, SPS Commerce hosted our annual employee appreciation BBQ on the lawn of the SPS Tower Turf Club. As is customary, our SPS executive leadership team served up a bountiful array of delicious picnic favorites to our #TeamSPS employees. A mixture of...
Why choosing to automate drop shipping is smart
Manual entry works but volumes can quickly outpace resources Here's why automating your drop shipping is a good idea. Deciding when to automate is difficult, especially for drop shippers. Traditionally, increasing order volumes trigger this change when manual order...
5 reasons to ditch free vendor portals
In life sometimes you get what you pay for Supplier portals (or vendor portals) are usually free which is why some vendors use them to get their orders from retailers. However, most vendors will tell you that they aren’t as great as they appear. The unfortunate truth...
GET WEEKLY UPDATES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.
Subscribe to our blog to receive retail and supply chain news, valuable resources, expert tips and more.