Retailers Raise Vendor Supply Chain Acumen with SPS Commerce Online Training Programs

MINNEAPOLIS, March 13, 2018 -- SPS Commerce, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPSC), a leader in retail cloud services, has unveiled more than 75 online training programs that educate and certify suppliers to deliver a more efficient supply chain. Courses are available for leading retailers, including Ace Hardware, Arhaus, Cabela’s, CDW, Chewy.com, David Jones, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Grainger, Jet.com, Loblaws, Neiman Marcus, The Iconic, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Walmart, among others. The courses provide detailed information on the latest trading requirements of the retailer delivered through documentation, infographics, webinars, and videos, with optional testing and certification available.  

“In today’s fast-paced retail environment, our suppliers need to understand how and why our trading requirements exist, and how to support them,” said Robert Schiefelbein, Supply Chain Support Manager, Cabela’s LLC. “By offering online training via SPS Commerce, this information is available in a format that takes just minutes to consume and we can track who has completed the series. The consumer is the real winner, as our improved retailer-supplier partnerships better showcase our merchandising strategy and deliver error-free orders and shipments.”

SPS Commerce offers a proven customer success methodology, including online courses, for retailers and their vendors to align with supply chain improvement initiatives. Comprised of more than a hundred retail strategists and technology experts, the Customer Success team at SPS supports more than 70,000 customers with the latest industry best practices to optimize their individual experience.

“As retailers adopt new supply chain strategies, suppliers need to understand the retailer’s trading expectations in a straight-forward and easy-to-understand fashion,” said Jim Frome, COO at SPS Commerce. “At SPS, our customer success teams are working with, and on behalf of, retailers to provide custom courses to help suppliers understand retailers’ trading requirements to improve their onboarding process. More than 8,700 users actively used the complementary training system in 2017 to drive retail success.”

In recent months, retailers teamed with SPS Commerce to deliver critical information to their vendor and carrier communities including the following programs to:

Educate new vendors. A leading online retailer teamed with SPS Commerce to provide a curriculum consisting of short videos related to each transaction type, a reference guide, and a live webinar to rapidly educate suppliers on the details of its trading requirements, including purchase orders, ship notices, and invoices. Launched in October 2017, 100 percent of its initial target group enrolled in the program.

Support direct-to-consumer orders. To understand essential business requirements related to a new order management model, SPS and a nationwide retailer with more than 800 stores developed an online course including an infographic detailing the EDI workflow and processes related to the retailer’s orders, returns and billing; a reference guide; and a webinar. To date, multiple users from dozens of suppliers have completed 90 percent of the custom trainings.

Modernize logistics operations. After deploying a new transportation management system (TMS), a North American grocery retailer needed to train its logistics partners on several new expectations related to load tenders and freight bills. SPS Commerce developed an online course, including webinars, infographics, videos, and more, to rapidly educate more than 150 carriers on the new requirements. Within 45 days, more than 90 percent of carriers had participated in the program and completed a quiz to confirm their learnings. This grocer continues to rely on SPS trainings to advance its operational effectiveness and efficiency.

SPS Commerce Trainings are complementary with access limited to participating vendors and carriers.

About SPS Commerce 
SPS Commerce perfects the power of trading partner relationships with the industry’s most broadly adopted retail cloud services platform. As a leader in cloud-based supply chain management solutions, we provide proven integrations and comprehensive retail performance analytics to thousands of customers worldwide. SPS Commerce has achieved 68 consecutive quarters of revenue growth and is headquartered in Minneapolis. For additional information, please contact SPS Commerce at 866-245-8100 or visit www.spscommerce.com. 

SPS COMMERCE, SPS, SPS logo, RETAIL UNIVERSE, 1=INFINITY logo, AS THE NETWORK GROWS, SO DOES YOUR OPPORTUNITY, INFINITE RETAIL POWER, RETAIL UNIVERSE are marks of SPS Commerce, Inc. and registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. RSX, In:fluence, and others are further marks of SPS Commerce, Inc. These marks may be registered or otherwise protected in other countries. 

Contacts: 
SPS Commerce Public Relations                                    
866-245-8100 
[email protected]