Fulfillment provider Innotrac Corp. is looking to expand, David Ellin, senior vice president of sales and marketing, tells Internet Retailer. Coming off an acquisition program of the last 18 months that brought additional distribution centers in Reno, NV, and Bolingbrook, IL, Innotrac is planning to build another facility near its Bolingbrook operation and is looking to acquire a facility in the Northeast. It’s also building a 360,000-square-foot facility in Hebron, KY, near Cincinnati. “We’ve added a substantial number of new accounts in the last five to six months,” Ellin says. The company also expects to announce two more well-known retail accounts in the next month.
Innotrac acquired its 280,000-square-foot Reno facility with the purchase of Universal Distribution Services in December 2000. It acquired its 354,000-square-foot Bolingbrook operation when it bought iFulfillment Inc. last July. That facility operated at one-third capacity when Innotrac bought it, Ellin says, and it is now at 95% capacity, thus necessitating another operation in the Chicago area. That facility will contain up to 300,000 square feet. It also has operations at its headquarters in Duluth, GA, and in Pueblo, CO.
“Our strategy is to build a national network of fully integrated fulfillment centers to speed delivery of product to consumers at lower freight cost,” Ellin says. For example, he says, Innotrac provides fulfillment services to Gateway Learning through its Universal Distribution acquisition. Universal had been fulfilling all Gateway Learning’s orders through the Reno center, although 65% of orders were going to the East Coast. By splitting distribution between eastern and western fulfillment centers, Innotrac was able to reduce Gateway’s distribution costs, Ellin says.
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