Convey and CommerceHub tout new strategic relationship

Convey, an Austin, Texas-based provider of cloud-based technology that helps shippers connect disparate data and processes from parcel to freight and first to last mile, and CommerceHub Inc., an Albany, N.Y.-based provider of hosted integration, drop ship fulfillment, and product content management for multi-channel e-commerce merchants, said today they have formed a strategic relationship.

At the core of this relationship, the companies said that retailers using CommerceHub’s drop-ship platform and network to expand product selections will now be able to leverage Convey’s active delivery management offering to drive new revenue growth opportunities for various product categories that, they said, “require complex delivery orchestration,” for sectors like furniture, exercise equipment, and high-end electronics.

Some of the customer benefits this relationship offers, according to Convey and CommerceHub, include: real-time shipment tracking and exception monitoring across a wide range of carriers; proactive consumer communication and alerting; branded tracking packages for consumers; improved carrier collaboration and outcomes; and consumer delivery experience feedback.

In an interview with LM, Convey CEO Rob Taylor said this is a very strategic relationship for both companies, as it is very complimentary, with CommerceHub’s business based on helping retailers increase their assortment way beyond what they carry in their own stores by connecting their retail customers with a network of 10,000-to-11,000 drop-shippers.

“This is a trend that almost any omnichannel retailer is taking right now,” he said. “They can carry 30,000 or 40,000  SKUs in their store, but they want to sell 1 million-plus SKUs online and they don’t have the ability to inventory all those goods, so by connecting to a drop-ship network like CommerceHub, it just instantly enables this ‘endless aisle’ concept or certainly category expansion.”

 CommerceHub Founder and CEO Frank Poore said in a statement that many of his company’s retailer customers are successfully maintaining and growing e-commerce market share by rapidly expanding their product selections to offer consumer the products they want, with rapid delivery experiences.

“We’ve also seen our retailer customers successfully increase ecommerce [gross merchandise volume] by launching into new product categories that may require complex delivery orchestrations above and beyond what is provided by common parcel carriers,” he added. “Our partnership with Convey will significantly enhance the delivery capabilities of our platform and network to enable our retailer customers to provide exceptional consumer delivery experiences, regardless of how the product is delivered.”