Physical retail locations vital for true shopper engagement
While many traditional retail stores are closing physical retail locations, such as Kmart, Sears, JCPenney, Macys, that doesn't mean the retail store is dying by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there are 4,080 more retail stores opening than are closing this...
Rise of the Marketplaces: Drop shipping and Marketplaces together
Thanks to companies like Amazon, Overstock, and Wayfair, e-commerce marketplaces are becoming a popular way for both retailers and suppliers to reach new customers without a lot of capital outlay or overhead. It doesn’t require additional marketing expenditures...
Opportunities for omnichannel and the importance of retail stores
Our annual benchmark report, Retail Insight: Moving Beyond Omnichannel, looks at several different trends that are important in the retail arena, affecting retailers, distributors and manufacturers. We’ve been publishing this report every year for the past five years,...
Differentiating yourself from other competing retailers
In a world where retailers often try to differentiate themselves from other, competing retailers in order to catch consumer attention, it's sometimes a little difficult to find that one special thing to do the trick. It's even worse when facing off against the online...
Growing and thriving as grocery competition heats up
The grocery competition for local and small chain grocers and stores has never been greater. Amazon has acquired Whole Foods and has been trying to set a trend for online grocery shopping while slashing prices. Walmart has been experimenting with grocery buy online...
Endless aisle doesn’t come with endless resources
When it comes to the filling the Endless Aisle, Amazon has pretty much ruined the curve for other retailers who want to fill their online presence with inventory, while Walmart is trying its own tactics to expand it's already considerable product catalog. With SKU...
E-commerce wave hits vendors as retailer expectations rise
When e-commerce took off, it started cutting into retailers' in-store businesses, causing a bit of panic. To add fuel to the fire, marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Etsy have been spawning and growing over the years. Not to mention hundreds and thousands of small...
Acumatica integrated EDI from SPS Commerce powered by MAPADOC
SPS Commerce is proud to roll out our new Acumatica integrated EDI solution powered by MAPADOC. This Fulfillment (EDI) solution provides streamlined communication and efficiencies across your trading partner network. To meet your needs, SPS Commerce offers solutions...
SPS Commerce partners with VersaPay
SPS Commerce is excited to announce our partnership with VersaPay, an online invoice presentment and payment solution. VersaPay is a leading provider of invoice-to-cash tools that help B2B companies automate accounts receivable, cash application, credits and...
Eight ways to improve eCommerce order fulfillment
eCommerce has been around long enough that many of us can barely remember what it was like before we could order products online and have them show up a couple days later. Those of us can think that far back, we certainly remember the days of paper catalog sales,...
Driving Change with SPS Commerce CTO Jamie Thingelstad
Recently, SPS Commerce Chief Technology Officer Jamie Thingelstad was featured in a mobile video interview series from Collective Genius Founder and CEO Jeff Martin. Driving Change is where Jeff goes for a drive with leading technology executives and dig deep into...
McLendon Hardware on better customer engagement
“The partnership McLendon Hardware has with SPS has been successful for many reasons,” says Nathaniel Polky, Director of Information Technology at McLendon Hardware, a family owned, 90-year-old business based primarily in Western Washington, “One of the strong points...
Key traceability takeaways from GS1 Connect 2017
The changing business landscape has amplified the demand for product information. To keep on top of this trend, SPS Commerce recently attended the GS1 Connect 2017 conference, where people from Grocery, Foodservice and the Healthcare industries came together to...
SPS Commerce launches Gartner Report on Achieving Multichannel Maturity
SPS Commerce today announced the availability of complimentary access to a recent Gartner report focused on the three pillars of multichannel retail success: order orchestration, demand planning and effective use of store inventory. The report, “A Survey Analysis:...
Tips for testing your new ERP before implementation
This time of year, some retailers and suppliers are testing and switching over to new ERPs in preparation for the holiday shopping season. July is probably about the latest you’d want to make a switch like that, as you don’t want to put the busiest time of the year at...
When to switch from distributor to direct-to-consumer retail?
Thanks to the relative ease of e-commerce and marketplaces, many manufacturers, distributors, vendors and suppliers are considering making the jump from simply supplying retailers with products to adding a new sales channel to sell products direct-to-consumer. If they...
Fast Fashion, unpredictable weather impact apparel seasonality
Retail buyers have operated on a fairly long and reasonably static buying calendar for years, without much change. For instance, buying for the early Spring shopping season usually runs from January through March, but the buying for it happened back in August –...
Manufacturers: Watch retail partner health closely
Previously, my SPS colleague Brandon Pierre wrote about how retailers need to involve manufacturers and suppliers in their brick-and-mortar store planning. Even if they don't involve vendors in discussions, they can at least plan around capabilities. Retailers can...
6 Tips for Better Collaboration with Trading Partners
Collaboration is key to success Some data points that really caught our eye revolved around the issues of trade partner collaboration and data sharing. At SPS Commerce, we encourage our retailers and suppliers to share data with each other whenever possible, because...
The Science of Retail Success in the Age of Instant Gratification
A fundamental shift in consumer spending is taking place, and as a result, retailers and logistics providers are quickly adapting to provide faster fulfillment services, differentiated product offerings and better overall brand experiences. During “The Science of...
Importance of working with real data, not anecdotes
Thanks to the capabilities of today's analytics, it's possible to make decisions based on real data, real facts and real patterns, rather than relying on anecdotes, subjective observations and gut feelings. Imagine this scenario: a supplier has its products in several...
Shipping from stores for fulfillment, instead of warehouses
We started seeing the trend a couple of years ago, and it has become one of our major predictions for this year and the next: more retailers will be shipping from stores, using individual retail locations as small distribution centers for online customers. They're...
![5 Defining Attributes of the Post-Omnichannel Era [Infographic]](https://www.spscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/SPS-5-defning-attributes-Infographic-header-1080x675.png)
5 Defining Attributes of the Post-Omnichannel Era [Infographic]
Over the past 5 years, omnichannel retail has evolved from a new concept into the new normal for what consumers expect from retail. Recent research shows that retail is now moving beyond omnichannel, seeing it not as a standalone project but a strategy that must be...
Do you need to find new vendors?
As part of a year-end or Q4 analysis and planning for an improved future, it's not uncommon for retailers to start looking for new vendors. Now is a great time for looking at all your data from last year, especially from the holiday shopping season, and seeing if...
Should my business sell through a marketplace?
To join a marketplace or not - that’s the question most sellers are asking these days. So what’s the clear answer? If I’m going to be honest with you, I have no idea…it really depends on your business. Listed below are a few of the major pros and cons that often come...
Tracking freight spend for retailers and suppliers
Retailers and suppliers who want to keep costs under control and analyze all of their spending should pay particular attention to freight spend, shipping rates and who you're spending with. This is where the costs can really spiral out of control if you’re not paying...
How retailer KPIs and analytics indicate supplier performance
The product a supplier is able to offer a retailer is important, but it’s only part of the equation - especially if the supplier performs drop shipping for the retailer. How quickly and efficiently the supplier can get the product directly to a consumer, or even...
Product descriptions and how they impact search results
Whether you’re a retailer with brick-and-mortar, eCommerce or both, most consumer research on a product starts with an online search. Shoppers look online to research how well the product will fit their needs, as well as where and how it’s available, whether they can purchase it online and have it shipped, or if their local store has it in stock so they can go pick it up (BOPIS).
Growth through innovation: How golf retailing is changing the game for today’s consumer
Collaboration amongst retailers and suppliers is a key facet to the changing omnichannel retail era. During SPS Commerce In:fluence 2016, Harry Arnett, senior vice president of marketing and brand management for Callaway Golf, and Randy Peitsch, senior vice president of operations for PGA Tour Superstore, revealed how they built a set of merchandising strategies to grow market share and mindshare with today’s omnichannel consumer.
Top 3 challenges facing industrial distributors
Retail is undergoing a major transformation that is affecting all industry trade partners, including distributors. A combination of global market forces and consumer-driven demands will make this a particularly tough year for distributors that sell into the construction, oil and gas, and other heavy-industry segments.
How retailers can use their stores as warehouses and fulfillment centers
Retailers are beginning to change their notions of owning warehouses and distribution centers, as they continue looking for ways to reduce costs, improve the customer experience and decentralize traditional fulfillment. Not only are retailers asking suppliers and 3PLs to manage this function for them (known as “drop ship” or “direct-to-consumer” fulfillment), they’re beginning to use their retail stores to fulfill customer orders as well.
Supply chain automation: add $1+ million dollars back to your business with three-way match
Want to add a million dollars to your bottom line, without making any drastic changes? Traditionally there are two ways to add to your bottom line, increase sales and reduce expenses. Increasing sales could mean raise prices, take on new products or open a new store. Many companies have infrastructure in place for using supply chain automation to address the “reduction of costs”. Using this automation, you could see dramatic improvements to your bottom line.
Collaboration – An Omnichannel Strategy
In a previous post, I suggested that sharing Point-of-Sale (POS) data with your 3PL can increase and organization's sales and there's no better way to talk about it than in the context of a real-life example. THE CONSUMER’S POWER Looking out the window at the huge...
What B2B is Learning from Consumer Tech
Written by Chuck Mallott, SPS Commerce The cloud-based computing model has changed the way we create and share data. Applications developed on this model equip us with productivity tools that can be used from virtually any location, on practically any device. It is...
Debunking Data Sharing Concerns
There has been a substantial trend in the retail world in recent years. Retailers and suppliers are collaborating with Point-of-Sale (POS) data at a much higher rate to help deal with the new retail norms, and the results have been highly profitable. However, this is...
How to tell if you need a Fulfillment (EDI) solution
Most startups and other very small businesses don’t need an electronic data interchange because they work with a small number of vendors and customers. But as your business grows, you will eventually find that you need to get an Fulfillment solution to keep up with...
Infinite Retail Power
Earlier this month we unveiled our new brand identity, here on this blog, on our website and in our suite of supply chain services. Our identity conveys SPS Commerce’s commitment to constantly delivering more value to you, and to focus on how we can help you perfect...
Shaking up the retail industry in Australia and beyond
I was recently in our Hong Kong office, and I have to admit something awful: I spread a message. The message was not important, it was not vital, it was not even retail or business related. It was the Harlem Shake. If you have not seen the Internet craze of the Harlem...
Supply Chain 101: Order to Payment process overview
Some of the brightest technology and business strategy minds often don’t understand the complexities of today’s supply chain. It’s simply not their focus. However, odds are that their work interacts with the supply chain at some point and a general understanding is...
Four building blocks to enhance your e-commerce website
Doing business online has now become similar to doing business offline, except of course that businesses’ marketing processes, such as promotion and advertisement campaigns, remain virtual for your online business operations. There are however substantial advantages...
NRF 2013 Takeaways: Mobile Technologies Reign
If you’re looking to track trends in the retail industry, there’s probably no better place to make observations than at the NRF BIG Show. This year’s event presented a wealth of information about what has been happening in the retail space, and there was plenty of...
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