| February 03, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPS Commerce Reaches Profitability; Showcases Winning
Formula for Hosting Supply Chain Integration Services
for Small and Medium Enterprises.
Milestone Caps Successful Year When SME Market
Matures into a Long-Term Sustainable Business Model
SPS Commerce, the leading provider of Supply Chain
Integration Services to small and mid-sized enterprises
(SME), has reached another milestone in their ascension
to the market leadership position with the announcement
of profitability entering the 2003 calendar year. The
announcement caps another year of tremendous growth
and activity for SPS Commerce, a year in which the hosted
integration market has matured into a sustainable business
model for today and the future. Through the execution
of new services, partnerships, acquisitions, and revenue
growth over the past 18 months, and by continuing its
focus of developing a hosted integration service that
is an attractive alternative to traditional integration
software, SPS Commerce has solidified its standing as
the leader in providing hosted integration services
to SMEs.
The past year marked an acceleration of the lifecycle
maturity of SMEs and their use of hosted integration
services for electronic participation in supply chain
activities with their trading partners. Initially, most
SMEs adopted the use of a hosted integration service
as a superior alternative to traditional EDI and/or
UPC catalog software solutions to satisfy a mandate
from one of their key customers as a condition of doing
business. During the past year however, many of SPS
Commerce's customers have realized quantifiable benefits
beyond compliance, including reduced error rates in
fulfilling products and increased sales due to streamlined
processes making business with larger customers easier.
"Early on, SMEs were limited in their ability
to comply with the EDI requirements of large customers.
Now SMEs are selecting products based on how they can
link their customer-facing systems to multiple customers
with a suite of services that extends their investment
beyond just EDI compliance," said Pete Abell in
the AMR Research Alert, SPS Commerce Acquires fourthchannel,
October 29, 2002.
With this market shift in mind, SPS Commerce designed
and implemented a number of new programs specially designed
for SMEs. These programs set the benchmark for supply
chain integration suites for the SME market and include:
·
- SPSCommerce.net Connection Factory, April 2002 -
To help SME's currently utilizing SPS Commerce's service
to consolidate on a single provider by accelerating
the rate that SPS Commerce extended the reach of its
network to additional retailers and distributors.
- SPSCommerce.net Accessory Library, May 2002 - To
improve the ease of use and productivity of SME's
utilizing SPS Commerce's service for complex fulfillment
operations and high transaction volumes. Accessories
are optional tools that suppliers can easily drop
into their environment to reduce the amount of data
entry required to process advanced transactions such
as Advanced Ship Notices (ASNs) or automated repetitive
processes associated with turning around a high number
of transactions in a short time period.
- SPSCommerce.net Adapters, September 2002 - To simplify
the setup and support required for SMEs to directly
integrate their back-end system to SPSCommerce.net's
data center. Adapters are pre-built connections that
tie popular small business systems like Microsoft
Great Plains eEnterprise, QuickBooks and PeachTree
to SPSCommerce.net, making it easier and less costly
for customers to implement a direct application to
application solution utilizing a hosted integration
service rather than a traditional software model.
- fourthchannel Acquisition, October 2002 - SPS purchased
this provider of product and order management services
to help enable SPS' current SME clientele with a solution
that extends their hosted service platform with an
on-line order site to electronically integrate their
smaller customers' orders into their back-end systems.
SPS Commerce's market leadership has also attracted
several key partnerships that are helping the Company
move its service beyond the retail and distribution
industries. EasyLink, an established leader in the EDI
and transaction processing market within the manufacturing,
financial services and automotive arenas, is private
labeling SPSCommerce.net as its solution for trading
partner enablement and management for large enterprises
and hosted EDI services for SMEs. Motherlode, a leader
in supply chain management, is also private labeling
SPSCommerce.net in a similar fashion within the forestry
and mining markets.
SPS has also distinguished itself as an industry leader
through many industry awards and speaking engagements.
SPS was named to the 2002 Inc 500 list of fastest growing
private companies, and was also named to the Minnesota
Business Journal Growth 50, a listing of the fastest
growing businesses in the state. SPS was also invited
to lend their industry expertise to the marketplace
through speaking engagements at the Collaborative Commerce
Expo and the Fortune Small Business Forum at COMDEX.
SPS concluded the year with the introduction of their
Private Label Order Management Service in November 2002.
The new product offering will enable large retailers
to electronically automate their private label order
management process with vendors and suppliers, providing
access to the order status, next steps and real-time
updates on SPSCommerce.net.
"Supply chain success in the SME market only comes
when a complete understanding of the unique market needs
and conditions is combined with 100% focus on meeting
those needs," said SPS Commerce CEO Archie Black.
"The execution of our offerings strategy, and the
resultant market and financial success, is yet another
example of how SPS Commerce is attuned to the needs
of the SME market and is setting the standard for supply
chain service providers in meeting those needs."
About SPS Commerce
SPS Commerce is the leading provider of hosted Supply
Chain Integration Services. The Company specializes
in managing trading partner enablement and management
programs to increase the depth and/or breadth of integration
with trading partners -- especially small and mid-sized
partners. Our solution has helped key enterprises, including
over 70 large retailers, electronically enable and integrate
over 40,000 small and mid-sized trading partners into
their e-supply chain. For more information, visit the
Company at www.spscommerce.com or call (651) 603-4400.
Contacts:
SPS Commerce
Eric Chaffee
Tel: 651-603-4400
echaffee@spscommerce.com
SPS Commerce is a registered trademark of SPS Commerce
Inc., SPSConnect, spscommerce.net and the SPS Commerce
logo are the property of SPS Commerce, Inc. All other
names and trademarks are the property of their respective
holders.
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