VCOMMERCE ESTABLISHES INDUSTRY`S FIRST PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR DIRECT SHIP VENDORS
Vcommerce Certified Direct Ship Network Ensures Consistent,
High-Quality Fulfillment Performance
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 5, 2001¾Vcommerce Corporation, a provider of
multi-channel commerce integration services, today announced the Vcommerce
Certified Direct Ship Network, a vendor certification program with stringent
guidelines to ensure the highest level of quality, service and performance
from participating vendors. The official certification process starts
immediately. This industry-leading certification program, based on
requirements Vcommerce has had in place for several years, is the
first-of-its-kind in the commerce services industry and guarantees
e-commerce companies, catalogers and manufacturers are working with
top-performing direct ship vendors.
The company also announced the formation of an advisory board to provide
expert insight and feedback on certification (see related press release
posted to Business Wire). Darren Bien, analyst, commerce infrastructure,
Jupiter Media Metrix; Lauren Freedman, president, the e-tailing group, inc.;
Ernest Schell, president, Marketing Systems Analysis, Inc.; and Sara B.
Yackey, director, fulfillment service, Baker & Taylor, Inc. were named as
charter board members.
Many companies have hesitated outsourcing to a direct ship fulfillment
network due to concerns with vendor performance, quality control, inventory
management and the ability to provide a seamlessly branded customer
experience. The Vcommerce Certified Direct Ship Network selects only the
best vendors in the industry based on availability and performance, ensuring
that these issues are addressed and resolved.
"Vcommerce has historically tracked vendor performance and worked with only
the best in the business to create a top-notch network," said John Kitzie,
senior vice president of merchandising, Vcommerce Corporation. "Our
pioneering approach puts service levels above all, and Vcommerce Vendor
Certification is the first-of-its-kind in the commerce services industry
providing our customers and vendors with an objectively evaluated vendor
network that visibly meets or beats industry performance standards. We are
setting a high level of performance for the industry and we are committed to
making sure our customers are successful."
Vcommerce has built a cohesive fulfillment network by selecting only best of
breed vendors and providing deep integration across systems. These
proprietary tools provide total visibility into the order from the time it
is placed until delivery to the customer, ensuring the best monitoring and
management of a vendors` performance.
Based on Vcommerce`s four years of experience determining what makes vendors
successful, certification is based on quantitative service metrics and
vendor capabilities including: order fill rate, order acknowledgement, ship
time, shipping information, percentage of returns, percentage of back
orders, number of customer issues generated
and response time to issues.
"Certification from Vcommerce demonstrates the high performance attainable
in a direct ship network and our commitment to delivering quality products
to customers on time," said Sara B. Yackey, director, fulfillment services,
Baker & Taylor, Inc. "The integration of our tools with Vcommerce tools in
our fulfillment process enables us to thoroughly manage and monitor our
activities on a daily basis. Vcommerce`s immediate feedback on how to
improve our performance has been and continues to be an immeasurable
value-add."
Vendor performance is measured daily and ratings are recalculated monthly,
with information available to Vcommerce clients. Vendors not maintaining
required standards will need to take action to improve performance to remain
certified or they may lose their certified ranking.
Vcommerce clients may want to integrate new vendors into the existing
Vcommerce Vendor Network. Vcommerce will evaluate these vendors and provide
pre-evaluations to clients on the vendors` ability to perform. This
evaluation process ultimately saves clients time and money, ensuring the
vendors they select can meet rigorous performance metrics required of a
successful direct ship network. Clients` vendors meeting certification
requirements will have the option of being added to the already-extensive
Vcommerce Vendor Network, potentially providing them with new customers.
Vendors who meet the stringent requirements receive a Vcommerce
certification seal, which is placed on the vendors` web sites. This seal
will help the industry recognize top-performing vendors.
The Vcommerce Vendor Network program consists of 300 vendors offering 1,200
brand names and 1.3 million products in 7,000 product categories.
Vcommerce`s order fulfillment rate is greater than 99 percent, significantly
higher than the industry average of 86 percent (as reported by the Boston
Consulting Group, State of Retailing 3.0).
Vendor certification data will be available to vendors and clients through
Vcommerce`s web-based extranet tool.
About Vcommerce Corporation
Vcommerce provides merchants and manufacturers with multi-channel commerce
integration services proven to reduce cost, minimize risk, and create new
revenue opportunities. Commerce chain integration services include product
catalog, merchandising, marketing, direct ship vendor network, transaction
management, reporting, and customer service, available as integrated or
hosted solutions.
The company`s 25 customers include Cox Interactive,
EntertainmentStudios.com, iWon, Lumenati, RewardsPlus and Twentieth Century
Fox Home Entertainment. A privately held company, Vcommerce has raised more
than $54 million in venture capital funding from American Express Financial
Corporation, Archery Capital, Benchmark Capital, CMGI @Ventures, Dain
Rauscher Wessels, Inktomi, PaineWebber and Pequot Capital. For more
information, visit www.vcommerce.com.
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*All brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Anne Price
Public Relations, Vcommerce
480-778-8495
aprice@vcommerce.com
www.vcommerce.com
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