PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - May 3, 2010) - Shipwire™, a leading provider of outsourced product fulfillment, announced today its continued growth in the SMB market. The company highlighted the successful execution of a number of goals it set forth since 2007, including funding, new strategic partnerships, an impressive increase in revenue and unprecedented growth with its customer base. And, with projections of industry-wide growth of e-commerce sales -- including those by SMBs -- Shipwire is poised to continue its own growth in 2010 and beyond.
In a recent report1, Forrester Research estimated that e-commerce will continue to grow at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the United States through 2014, and will hit $250 billion in 2014 (up from $155 billion in 2009). Additionally, Forrester noted that online retail sales in the United States were up 11 percent, compared with 2.5 percent for all retail sales.
Shipwire's growth mirrors that of the online e-tailers; specifically, the company has seen an increase in revenue at a CAGR of 183 percent (2007-2009). The impressive revenue percentage is only eclipsed by the company's growth in its customer base, which increased at a CAGR of 371.7 percent over the same time period. SMB customers have been consistently drawn to Shipwire's Store-Sell-Ship™ web-based software and services, A Platform For Global Growth™.
Beyond growing markets in the US, SMBs are seeking growth overseas. Indeed, the opportunity exists: Forrester forecasts that e-commerce in Western Europe will grow at an 11 percent CAGR, an increase from $93 billion in 2009 to $156 billion in 2014. In an effort to help SMBs grow global sales cost-effectively, Shipwire made available warehouses in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) in 2007 and a distribution center in the United Kingdom in 2008. Subsequently, a recent Shipwire report reflected a surge in overseas growth, showing an 11 percent jump in international orders from 2008 to 2009 (9 percent vs. 20 percent, respectively).
"We're very excited to see that a growing number of SMBs are able to increase their global exports, indicating a healthy growth for both small businesses and the economy as a whole," said Damon Schechter, Founder and CEO, Shipwire. "We see Shipwire's Store-Sell-Ship platform as an invaluable tool that will help growing businesses around the world realize their greatest potential in international markets."
In 2009, Shipwire raised $5 Million (U.S.) in growth capital, to help accelerate its Store-Sell-Ship™ platform adoption by growing e-commerce merchants in the U.S. and overseas. While the broader market experienced free fall, Shipwire leveraged its growth curve to lock in long-term capacity and capabilities that will benefit Shipwire's customers for years to come.
Shipwire has also added new partners and product integrations in 2009, indicating a successful execution on a strategy to tie together key pieces of the e-commerce ecosystem. Major integrations to services such as PayPal, Google and eBay have been added, resulting in the first fully automated supply chain for many e-tailers, and a greater ability to compete with larger players. Shipwire's developer program also is continuing to accelerate, with the likes of Drupal's Ubercart, Channel Advisor, Magento, WordPress Shopplugin, UltraCart and Volusion having joined in 2009 and early 2010.
Industrial automation specialist and the Director of Automation at Netflix, John Voris, joined Shipwire's advisor board in 2009 to advise on the continued expansion and automation of the Shipwire global warehouse network. Prior to Netflix and Shipwire, Mr. Voris completed over 300 distribution and manufacturing projects for past clients including Cisco Systems, AMD, Shutterfly, Sun Microsystems, Emery Global Logistics, Lucent Technologies, New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI) to name a few.
Finally, Shipwire has made some important changes to its volume pricing and tools for inbound receiving and product shipping, and has added service-level guarantees across its warehouse network. The improvements are all designed to create a better experience for Shipwire's valued customers.
About Shipwire (http://www.shipwire.com)
Shipwire, the leader in e-commerce order fulfillment services, effectively eliminates the hassle of storage and shipping for growing merchants with a global warehouse network and its innovative Store-Sell-Ship™ platform. Shipwire's warehouses -- in Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and London -- are conveniently located close to buyers, drastically reducing merchants' shipping costs. Shipwire is the only warehouse logistics service that instantly integrates with shopping carts and inventory management systems. Shipwire is developer- and partner-friendly; learn more about our shipping affiliate partner program or get our how to outsource order fulfillment guide at http://www.shipwire.com/partner. Stay up to date with our shipping fulfillment distribution blog. Print online USPS postage. For a free trial or more information, contact 1-888-SHIPWIRE or visit http://www.shipwire.com/trial.
1"U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014," Forrester Research
Contact Information:
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nate Gilmore
Shipwire
press@shipwire.com
888-Shipwire
Ashley Wilkinson
BOCA Communications
ashley@bocacommunications.com
+1-415-738-7718
