Getting ready for the peak shipping season isn't what it used to be.
Retailers and manufacturers have always struggled to balance their inventories with seasonal consumer demand. And for the most part, the August-to-October push to build up inventories - and the subsequent mad dash to get those goods on store shelves - has always been tough, but at least predictable. This happened every year.
Today, our retail customers face a far more daunting challenge. Black Friday orders, often secured months in advance, are followed closely by Cyber Monday orders. These back-to-back holiday shopping days make direct-to-consumer shipping anything but predictable. Products that are hot in the stores are often popular online also, so maintaining robust product availability goes from a balancing act to a juggling act, with different channels in the same organization competing for the same inventory. Additionally, products that aren't moving in the stores may be deeply discounted online, making things even more unpredictable throughout the December shopping season. Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman and CEO of Macy's, summed it up perfectly when he said that his company has simply stopped trying to break out retail channels: 'We can't distinguish anymore what is a store sale or a mobile sale. It's blurred.'
As a retail-focused 3PL, Port Logistics Group has a front-row seat to these annual challenges, helping our customers plan and execute omnichannel distribution from our gateway facilities in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Seattle and Savannah. Our customers constantly ask us to design cost-effective and efficient inventory-management solutions that allow them to fulfill in multiple channels from a single, virtual inventory that may be in one or many locations. In the attached white paper, 'Bridging the Gap: The Role of Retail 3PLs in the Journey to 'Shopping Redefined,'' we look at the struggles facing our customers today as they redesign their supply chains for omnichannel distribution, and how a retail 3PL can help bridge the gap.
SPS Commerce, Inc. is a provider of cloud-based supply chain management services that supports retailers, grocers, distributors, suppliers, and logistics firms to communicate and collaborate by simplifying how they manage and share item, order, and sales data across omnichannel retail channels. The Company's products include Fulfillment, Analytics and Other products. Fulfillment product is a full-service electronic data interchange (EDI) solution that scales as a business grows. Analytics product enables organizations to improve visibility into how products are selling through a single connection across all sales channels, including wholesale, eCommerce, and marketplaces. The Company provide several complementary products, such as assortment, and community. In addition to these offerings, it also provides one-time services such as professional services and testing and certification. It provides supply chain digitalization including EDI and e-invoicing in Europe and the United States.
SPS COMMERCE, INC. 
