Millennial shopping habits and the impact on retail
Millennial shopping habits had a major impact on the U.S. economy for several years. Born between the years 1980 and 2000, Millennials are aged 18 to 38 right now, although the date ranges may vary depending on who you ask. They’re also the second largest demographic...
Automated invoice reconciliation for suppliers and vendors
One thing retailers love about EDI is the ability to reconcile invoices electronically and automatically. This process compares the purchase order, receiving documents and invoice to make sure they all match each other in items, quantity and costs. Once the match is...
Grocery store formats for the future
The traditional supermarket may be in trouble. While big supermarket brands — Kroger, Safeway, Publix — are still making billions of dollars per year, industry experts are getting a little uneasy about the future of the traditional supermarkets. Even a few years ago,...
Finalizing Q4 planning for the holiday shopping season
It's summertime, and you know what that means! Holiday shopping season planning. Oh, who are we kidding? It's always holiday shopping planning season. The only time it isn't time to plan for the holidays is when you’re in the middle of trying to survive the actual...
EDI for baby product retailers and suppliers
A new kind of baby boom is underway in the retail industry. The baby goods retail industry is now so big and competitive that it shares similar characteristics to other retail verticals, like toys, health and beauty, and fashion. However, unlike many of those other...
Mindful collaboration to grow business through partnership
In the world of small business and entrepreneurship, we often hear about businesses collaborating to manage a large project. They bring in experts with a particular skill set, rather than trying to muddle their way through it or overextending themselves by trying to...
Order-to-shelf inventory management
Order-to-shelf inventory management is an inventory management strategy that has been making headlines recently as more and more retailers, particularly grocers, are embracing it in an effort to reduce back room storage and labor costs. We've seen this in other...
![Hyland’s cures its EDI woes, saves $45K annually [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CS_Hylands.png)
Hyland’s cures its EDI woes, saves $45K annually [Case Study]
Since 1903, Hyland’s has been delivering effective, homeopathic medicines to babies, children and adults. From relieving colds to leg cramps to teething pain, consumers trust Hyland’s safe and natural medicines. The popularity of Hyland’s homeopathic medicines among...
EDI 812: Debit/Credit Adjustment transaction explained
At the risk of sounding like a "pobody's nerfect" t-shirt, things go wrong from time to time. Accidents can and do happen. Processes break when humans enter the equation and something happened to your order between the PO and the moment it arrived at your location....
Understanding the power of personalization
We all like to feel special, like people get us and understand us. It shows that they care and that they're concerned with us. It’s the same reason why retailers that use personalization often see increased sales and engagement when they customize their marketing...
What is blockchain and how does it help retail supply chains
No doubt you've been hearing all the buzz lately about Bitcoin and blockchain, wondering what all the fuss is about and exactly what it is. What is blockchain? For starters, Bitcoin is an alternative currency that doesn't exist in physical form. Blockchain, on the...
Fifty percent growth looks easy at PM&J with SPS Fulfillment (Case Study)
As a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of pet, apparel and home products, PM&J LLC has experienced significant growth in recent years. Prior to working with SPS Commerce, its third-party logistics provider (3PL) had been managing its EDI operations. With SPS...
Industrial distributors and Amazon: Competing with retailers and the internet
Industrial distributors and wholesalers have begun competing with retailers, providing products to do-it-yourselfers and enthusiastic amateurs at retail pricing. But now they're going to have to start competing with the internet and e-commerce retailers on a larger...
Free download: 5 signs your EDI solution isn’t the right fit
Your EDI solution was supposed to help your business grow, but it never seems to be working right. Lately it feels like all you’re doing is throwing more time, money and resources into a bottomless pit of neediness. You’re not alone. The problem isn’t with you – the...
Vendor consolidation for retailers
Retailers who are looking to streamline their operations and improve their efficiency, while maintaining their product selection, will often consider vendor consolidation as a way to achieve their desired results. They look for a way to reduce their numbers of vendors...
EDI for toy retailers and toy suppliers
People who work in the retail industry, especially the retail supply chain, are already aware of how competitive that market is. But of all the verticals in that field, the toys vertical is insanely competitive, especially in the modern digital retail landscape. The...
![Jenks Hatches Success With EDI for Quickbooks [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CS_Jenks-Hatchery.png)
Jenks Hatches Success With EDI for Quickbooks [Case Study]
As a fourth-generation operation, Jenks Hatchery is a leader in the hatchery industry. Each spring they ship more than 9,000 boxes of chicks to Tractor Supply stores across the United States. Jenks is also a direct-to-farm supplier of chicks, in addition to their...
Try Before You Buy trend is causing ‘returns tsunami’
By Derek O’Carroll, CEO, Brightpearl A growing online shopping trend may be a great perk for consumers, but it could take a significant toll on unprepared retailers. I’m talking about try before you buy (TBYB), a new shopping trend that enables customers to order...
Free downloads: EDI 101 and 5 signs EDI can help your business
Is your business encountering scalability issues and growing pains? Do you need to find efficiencies, speed up processes or reduce manual data entry? Has a retailer, vendor or other trading partner asked you to implement EDI? Download these two resources for free: EDI...
Need state merchandising for grocery
There’s a difference between the shopper and the consumer, just as there is a difference between the person who buys the food and the person who eats it. The parent who buys food for the family is the shopper, the kids are the consumer. Sometimes the shopper is the...
Why merchandising is so important — and so hard
Critical to retail success is to have focus, to have a position in the market, have a strategy to win customers and move product. That's merchandising in a nutshell. Retail merchandisers should think of themselves like curators at a museum. A curator doesn't just...
Retailers: Sharing data with suppliers brings savings and growth
When it comes to sharing sales data, many retailers like to play things close to the vest, refusing to share with others. The data is proprietary, they don't want the competition to see how they're doing, they want to get paid for sharing data, or they just don't see...
Growth spikes won’t derail SIM Supply with SPS Fulfillment
It was 2016 and SIM Supply’s orders were on the rise as the mining industry and its new online sales channels began to flourish. This spike in business revealed an urgent need for automation, and based on the recommendation of one of its largest customers, SIM Supply...
Are you ready for the reverse ASN?
You've seen us talk about the ASN before — the Advanced Shipping Notice. It's the advanced notification about an incoming shipment, and many of the large retailers require it from their suppliers these days. But we haven't talked at all about the Reverse ASN. We're...
Inbound Logistics names SPS Commerce to its Top 100 Logistics IT Providers List
Each spring, Inbound Logistics identifies the top 100 software providers meeting the supply chain challenges of today’s logistics professionals. SPS Commerce was (again) named to this prestigious list based on our commitment to streamlining the logistics process that...
When your retailer asks to trade electronically with EDI
Smaller suppliers that have been selling to smaller retail partners have probably found a nice little groove — your retail buyer emails a purchase order, which you enter into your inventory system. The order gets packed and shipped, and you send it off to your...
Highlights from CodeDay 2018 Minneapolis & Toronto at SPS Commerce
SPS Commerce hosted CodeDay 2018 in Minneapolis and Toronto on February 17th and 18th and both were a smashing success. CodeDay is a coding event for high school and college student programmers, artists, musicians, actors and everyone else to get together for 24 hours...
Pressures on grocery that require a response
The year 2016 was an important year in the retail marketplace that has changed the way everyone in this space operates. It was the year the Millennial population surpassed the Baby Boomers as the largest living generation in the United States. According to the U.S....
EDI for pet product retailers and suppliers
EDI has helped a variety of businesses in retail and the retail supply chain. Its improved accuracy, communication and speed capabilities have played an important role in the growth and streamlining of grocery, cosmetics, sports, home improvement and other industries....
Grocery vendor swaps out EDI provider after outages, snafus
Schwabe North America, also known as Nature’s Way, offers an extensive product line of herbal medicines sold by national retailers and grocery chains including Amazon, Costco, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Loblaws, and Wegmans. With new retailers and grocers choosing to carry...
Distributors and wholesalers: Add services to attract new business
Due to shifts in the retail and retail supply chain industry, distributors and wholesalers have had a lot to think about to make sure they’re able to maintain and expand their business. One of the approaches that distributors and wholesalers are taking is to offer...
How to get certified for Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime
You've no doubt heard, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." It's true in the e-commerce supply chain world too, only this time, "Mama" is Amazon and Walmart, and if you can make them happy, you can pretty much make any retailer happy. That's because these retail...
Collaboration with trading partner networks raises all boats
Retailers who want to participate in a true omnichannel strategy and reap its rewards will find that it's impossible to fully deliver on customers' expectations without some amount of collaboration with trading partners. Likewise, vendors and suppliers that want to...
Automated purchase order to invoice reconciliation for retailers
The retail industry is changing at lightning-fast speeds. Consumers want more variety, cheaper, faster. Retailers and their trading partners are expected to keep up. With every link in the supply chain accelerating, manual processes which are required before business...
EDI 861: Receiving Advice/Acceptance Certificate
The Receiving Advice/Acceptance Certificate is growing in popularity as more and more retailers rely on their trading partners to help manage inventory. The EDI 861 document is often used in automatic stock-replenishment programs managed by the supplier or vendor. As...
![VHC Brands’ online sales demand 99% EDI accuracy [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CS_VHC-Brands.png)
VHC Brands’ online sales demand 99% EDI accuracy [Case Study]
Sales of VHC Brands’ quilts and other home furnishing products were booming on Amazon, Houzz, SHOP.COM and Wayfair, among other retailers. Committed to meeting the growing demands of its retailers and their consumers, VHC Brands teamed with SPS Commerce to streamline...
EDI for health, beauty and cosmetics retail and supply
EDI has played an important role in the growth and streamlining of the retail clothing, industrial supplies and grocery industries. And it can have a positive impact on the cosmetics and beauty retail vertical as well. There's a growing demand for healthy, beauty and...
Digital retail, Toys R Us and adaptability in times of change
Change has been inevitable for humans since the dawn of our existence. Every discovery leads to a new discovery and leads to a new discovery and so on, with each new innovation helping lead to changes in behavior that improve our lives. Think gathering, then hunting,...
![Valencia Pipe takes more brands to market with supply chain automation [Case Study]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CS_VPC.png)
Valencia Pipe takes more brands to market with supply chain automation [Case Study]
With its leading gas tubing, HOME-FLEX, and other products’ sales on the rise, Valencia Pipe Company sought to replace its manual order and fulfillment processes with one that would scale to support its long-term plans. By deploying SPS Commerce Fulfillment (EDI), the...
Item information for drop shipping success
Drop shipping has been one of the biggest boons to retail e-commerce, especially those stores that want to offer the endless aisle but don't have endless resources to do so. By working with drop ship-capable vendors, retailers can utilize vendors' inventory and...
![Retailers, grocers educate and certify 8,700 vendors with SPS Online Courses [Press Release]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Blog-picture-retailer-funded-portals.png)
Retailers, grocers educate and certify 8,700 vendors with SPS Online Courses [Press Release]
Did you know SPS Commerce offers 75 online training programs that educate and certify suppliers to deliver a more efficient supply chain? Courses are available for leading retailers, including Ace Hardware, Arhaus, Cabela’s, CDW, Chewy.com, David Jones, Dick’s...
Consolidating suppliers for wholesalers and distributors
To help streamline their operations and refine their focus, many organizations in the retail and supply chain industry are reducing the number of partners they have in order to successfully operate. Wholesalers and distributors are not immune to this trend, as it's...
Retail is dying
By Chad Rubin, Skubana Co-Founder and Ecommerce Renegade In 1972, ARPANET was used to arrange the sale of cannabis between two students, and e-commerce hasn't stopped since. From the earliest days of Internet technology, it was almost inevitable that it would be used...
Learning from Amazon’s embrace of personalization
Remember in the early days of Amazon when the "People who bought this item also bought... " items appeared below your purchase, enticing you to buy one or two more related items? This early version of the Endless Aisle was a great reminder to customers that there were...
EDI 101: 5 signs your business could benefit from EDI – WEBINAR
You may have heard that electronic data interchange (EDI) is essential to your supply-chain business, or maybe you were recently told you must have it in order to be compliant with a retailer you support––but you’re not exactly sure how it works or how it can benefit...
EDI 214: Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message
One of the greatest innovations since the transportation of sliced bread was the ability to track a package shipment online. Consumers were overjoyed when they were able to start doing this with shippers like UPS and Fedex. They could look up a tracking number and see...
Consumer’s evolving digital shopping habits
Ask any parent of teenagers how hard it is to keep up with their teens' ever-changing habits: favorite music and TV shows, favorite video games, and even their friends. All of that will change from week to week and even day to day, and the parents feel like they're...
The game has changed to win big on retail execution
By Gina Ashe, CEO, ThirdChannel Retail is a number’s game. To stay profitable, brands are deliberate in how they develop products, carefully considering every step from R&D, to materials sourcing, to production, to shipping and logistics. Once the product arrives at...
Collaboration with networks is the future of retail
One of the greatest business revolutions ever is the way the internet harnessed information, data, and communication to create a whole new businesses models and ways to make money. This revolution had the added effect of disrupting so many entrenched business models...
RWC reaps the rewards of new sales with EDI for SAP
In 2017, Reliance Worldwide Corporation (RWC) signed with a new retailer with over 2,000 selling locations that would carry more than 100 RWC product SKUs at each location. “If we were still doing EDI manually, this account would have required a team of ten full-time...
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