Staples announced its new Staples Exchange, a platform that allows merchants to offer products to Staples customers through all of its ecommerce channels, with multiple integration options.
Instead of requiring merchants to use a third party provider that charges integration fees, Staples Exchange gives merchants a single portal to enroll with all Staples sites. Initially this will include just Staples.com, with Staples Advantage, Staples Canada and Quill.com coming on line in 2015.
Once merchants enroll, they can upload products and start receiving orders, with access to real-time alerts, reporting by channel and self-service inventory management tools.
“Staples Exchange allows them to rapidly integrate with us, bringing even more products and services to our customers,” said Faisal Masud, executive vice president, global ecommerce for Staples Inc. in the press release. It will also give end customers a larger product assortment, post-shipment order tracking and greater visibility into product inventory.
Other features for merchants include a real-time and historical reporting dashboard, automated onboarding program, order lifecycle visibility, and the ability to assign role-based employee access. It will also allow suppliers to update product costs and access their product pages.
Future enhancements will let them update product costs and give them access to their product catalog. Flat File and EDI availability will also be added to the current web and API integration options.
Scot Wingo, founder of Channel Advisor, said Staples used to have a closed platform which merchants could only be part of through an “old school” EDI integration from CommerceHub.
Wingo said one of the things Masud identified was that Staples needed more products and vendors.
“The first thing they did was launch a marketplace, and they found it worked very well,” said Wingo. “The selection is very strong and the suppliers made it very clear that their legacy solution wasn’t really giving them the ability to on ramp them quickly.”
Wingo said participating in the Staples Exchange means merchants don’t have to pay CommerceHub fees, and products and suppliers can be added quickly. He also said it enables Staples to compete with Amazon and be more agile. “You will see other retailers try to replicate the success (of Amazon),” he said.
(01/05/15- Editor’s Note: CommerceHub still does work with Staples)