General Nutrition Centers Inc. expects to open its own online store in the fourth quarter of this year under a multi-year agreement with platform and technology provider GSI Commerce Inc., GSI has announced. GNC.com is not now e-commerce-enabled, and GNC supplements and nutritional products have been sold online through Drugstore.com. “We’ll be honoring that contract, but its exclusive nature will end,” says a GNC spokeswoman.
GSI will provide GNS with e-commerce services including core technology, fulfillment and customer care operations. “The migration from our current third-party selling model to a model in which we are taking full control of our direct-to-consumer channel in a way that most effectively capitalizes on our strong brand awareness and existing store base in an important step for GNC,” says Joseph Fortunato, executive vice president and chief operating office of GNC.
GNC operates 2,644 company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada and has 1,261 domestic franchised operations, locations in 1,043 Rite Aid stores and 773 international franchised locations.
GSI Commerce currently provides e-commerce services including core technology, infrastructure and partner services to some 50 partners.
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