Office products retailer Staples Inc. will use CommerceHub's platform and remote fulfillment management Drop-Ship Master service to integrate its drop-ship suppliers, lower inventory costs and improve customer service.
“Basically, what they're getting out of this is a reduction in inventory holding, but at the same time [they] expand their overall product offering to customers,” said Frank Poore, CEO of CommerceHub, Clifton Park, NY.
CommerceHub's platform will let Staples integrate with new suppliers, sidestepping the challenges associated with connecting to such a disparate group. Drop-Ship Master also will let Staples see through orders from point-of-sale to delivery, plus exception-based notifications for customer service.
Such CommerceHub retail technology is already in use by Target Corp., Sears, Roebuck and Co., KB Toys and QVC.
An $11 billion company with multiple catalogs, Web sites and more than 1,400 stores worldwide, Staples is working to trim its inventory costs.
“Their order management system will integrate with CommerceHub's plug-and-play system to [connect] to many different suppliers with different technologies,” Poore said. “Their inventory is synchronized between the parties [with CommerceHub] so that they're selling products that actually exist and they're not taking it out of thin air.”
