Musician’s Friend picks HighJump for supply chain management

Musician’s Friend Inc. has selected a suite of applications from HighJump Software, a 3M company, to manage its growing distribution and fulfillment operations.

The HighJump Supply Chain Advantage software suite will be implemented at Musician’s Friend’s new 700,000-square-foot fulfillment center, scheduled to open early next year in Kansas City, Mo. Musician’s Friend anticipates the software will optimize the fulfillment of more than 4,000 orders each day.

The company, No. 78 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guitar Center Inc. Musician’s Friend web sales in 2005 hit a crescendo, growing 25.3% to $211.9 million compared with $169.1 million in 2004.

The company offers more than 36,000 products in its mail order catalogs and on its e-commerce site, MusiciansFriend.com. Products include guitars, basses, keyboards, percussion and amplifiers, as well as recording, mixing, lighting and DJ gear.