While the benefits of supplier-direct fulfillment and an inventory-less sales model are readily apparent, building an integrated supply-chain network that seamlessly processes transactions and delivers product directly to the customer is a complex, daunting task.

Consider these issues addressed by CommerceHub:
“Integrating all these suppliers is a nightmare, they all have different systems and technologies.”	Seamless Integration – The Supply-on-Demand platform translates and normalizes communications for supply-chain partners, so they can electronically receive purchase orders, change orders and remittance confirmations in their own native file formats while responding accordingly with electronic acknowledgements, shipment confirmations, inventory updates, and invoices.
“We have millions of products out there, and once the order leaves my hands, I cannot see where they are in the process.”	Bi-directional Visibility – The Supply-on-Demand platform allows retailers to view the status of an order at any point in its lifecycle, from initial purchase, through their supplier network, carrier and delivery process, directly to the customer.
“I have suppliers tell me their fax machine was out of toner and they must not have gotten that order.”	Event Management – To address the critical issue of supplier performance, CommerceHub enforces retailer-specific rules and provides automated alerts when a supplier is out of compliance. Proactive exception-based management resolves potential fulfillment problems before they impact your customer.
“Our customer service reps get 100’s of calls every day from customers asking where their order is.”	Real-Time Tracking –The Supply-on-Demand platform features real time carrier tracking capabilities that provide instantaneous access to shipping status. By integrating carrier information you can automate order status updates to customers, reducing call center inquiries.
“We have to fax branded packing slips to our suppliers.”	Branded Packing Slips – In order to maintain a seamless experience for the customer the Supply-on-Demand platform enables any supplier, large or small, to produce high quality retailer-branded packing slips for inclusion with shipment. Packing slips can be customized to include handling instructions, barcodes, logos, return labels and customized messaging.
“Our on-boarding process takes months, we need product availability now.”	Speed to Market – CommerceHub offers a pre-built and proven infrastructure that eliminates the costly development time and resources required to build complex inter-business infrastructure. In 2007 we connected over 1,500 suppliers the same day for basic connections to an average of 11 days for more complex integrations. With over 4,200 suppliers currently connected to the Supply-on-Demand platform, your suppliers may already be on board.

Disparate technologies, legacy business processes and tracking thousands of orders sourced through hundreds of suppliers makes successfully implementing a drop-ship-fulfillment sales model a potentially expensive and time-consuming business challenge.

The CommerceHub Supply-on-Demand platform provides supply-chain integration and fulfillment solutions that unify e-commerce operations. Our full suite of technologies and services enable retailers to rapidly expand product offerings without tying up capital in inventory, while reducing warehouse and handling costs and delivering the same levels of customer service and fulfillment as if they owned and stocked the goods themselves.