Chicago-based omni-fulfilment platform ShipBob has launched a standalone warehouse management system (WMS) for independent merchants.

Called Merchant Plus, it targets those with their own warehouse in the USA giving them the ability to power fulfilment operations while leveraging ShipBob’s global network.

Built in house, it includes access to ShipBob’s carrier infrastructure, support team and fulfilment experts. The same all-inclusive platform brands that outsource fulfilment to ShipBob get a full suite of tools to run their entire supply chain, while using ShipBob’s network of warehouses across the USA, Europe, Australia and Canada.

“As an industry leader that is constantly working to bring more value to the ecommerce logistics ecosystem, we are proud to launch Merchant Plus,” said Dhruv Saxena, CEO of ShipBob. “With this new platform, we are now giving businesses access to our WMS to continue to fulfil in-house, while also having the option to have ShipBob fulfil orders in other regions or countries. Merchant Plus really marries all of the benefits of fulfilling in-house and leveraging ShipBob for other supply chain solutions, allowing businesses to achieve scale, efficiency and control over both their inventory and the customer experience like never before.”

Fast-growing companies such as Spikeball, with more than four million players all over the world and over fifty tournaments every year, use Merchant Plus to power B2B and DTC fulfilment in the USA, while leveraging ShipBob’s European fulfilment services.

Merchant Plus offers a variety of benefits including:

• White-glove implementation: Brands have gone through on-site onboarding, getting fulfilment teams up to speed with as little as one week of training, including the setup of computers, printers, iPods, scanners, shelves and other equipment.
• Functionality: Brands can access customisable pick-and-pack workflows such as cluster and batch picking to increase efficiencies, customisable setup options for on-the-floor inventory and enhanced transparency to manage warehouse employees, orders and inventory from anywhere, while driving operational improvements.
• Cost savings: Brands consistently reduce their overall fulfilment costs.
• Time savings: Brands have been able to spend 25% less time on fulfilment, so they can focus on other parts of their business.
• Accuracy: Brands have reduced their error rate by as much as 35% with checks and balances for receiving and storing inventory, and picking, packing and shipping orders.
• Support: Brands receive continued account management from the ShipBob team for a sustainable partnership.

ShipBob piloted Merchant Plus with several ecommerce brands running their own warehouses, and they all quickly reaped the benefits.

“I’m still shocked that we get to use ShipBob’s software that they use for their global network within our own facility,” said Muddy Bites co-founder Tyler DeVos. “It’s like a cheat code. Before ShipBob, we didn’t have everything centrally located. Now, from inventory to orders, we can track it all. Lot codes are extremely important for us, being in the food business, and other tools we used previously didn’t give us those capabilities.”

In addition to the WMS, brands with their own warehouse can get the same tools as brands that outsource fulfilment to ShipBob, including better visibility into real-time inventory levels and improved transparency in operations.

A dashboard for tracking shipments bridges the gap between operations and support teams. Various carriers and services provide standard and expedited shipping across domestic and international deliveries. There are tools for managing and shipping orders and returns.

The ability to fulfil DTC and B2B orders includes EDI compliance with major retailers.

Analytics and reporting capabilities provide a more complete view of users’ businesses.

It will integrate seamlessly with ecommerce platforms, online marketplaces, EDI providers, help desks, returns management platforms and other tools in ShipBob’s app store.

“Merchant Plus is hands down way more user-friendly than other WMS tools my team has used and seen,” said Courtney Lee, CEO of Prymal. “That side of the business runs perfectly without me having to even talk to our fulfilment associates. I don’t know what I would have done without ShipBob with their team, their incredible warehouse management system and their training. This just worked out so quickly and smoothly. There were no hiccoughs as we got everything up and running, and were able to have a huge Q4.”

The ShipBob platform provides merchants with a single view of their business and customers across all of their sales channels, and enables them to manage products, inventory, orders and shipments, and leverage analytics and reporting to run their business effectively.

Founded in 2014 out of Chicago, ShipBob was launched through Y Combinator by co-founders Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati, two entrepreneurs who saw a need for more efficient shipping for ecommerce businesses. Today, the company has raised $330.5m in funding and operates a global logistics network with 30 fulfilment centres across the USA, Canada, UK, European Union and Australia.