City Chic Selects Cart.com as Fulfillment Partner

Cart.com, the unified commerce and logistics software and services provider, said City Chic, an omnichannel, plus-sized fashion brand based in Sydney, picked the company to be its fulfillment partner in the U.S.

“City Chic will leverage Cart.com’s third-party logistics and technology solutions and Dallas warehouse facility to improve efficiency and customer experience for order fulfillment across the U.S.,” the companies said in a joint statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Joe Barth, chief logistics officer at Cart.com, this latest partnership “underscores Cart.com’s strength in serving leading global apparel brands through our modern logistics technology and warehouse facilities that can scale as they grow.”

Cart.com’s technology helps retailers, brands and vendors “automate and simplify mission-critical supply chain operations, reduce costs and achieve real-time order and inventory visibility through its technology-driven 3PL offering,” the company said, adding that its proprietary software and automated systems “drive precision and productivity across its nationwide network of omnichannel facilities.”

The partnership with City Chic reflects a growing trend at retail where companies are increasingly turning to unified commerce providers to squeeze out inefficiencies and improve supply chain flow. Here, Remington Tonar, cofounder of Cart.com, defines unified commerce and the value proposition of Cart.com services.

WWD: What exactly is unified commerce and how does it work?

Remington Tonar: Unified commerce is all about connecting disparate systems and technologies brands use in order to deliver a better experience for customers across channels, whether online or offline. Where an omnichannel approach focuses on providing a consistent experience across channels, a unified approach to omnichannel commerce focuses on providing a connected experience across channels.

For a typical retailer, this unification can yield improved visibility and control across marketing software, customer data platforms, commerce solutions, order management systems, warehouse management systems, point of sale, content management systems and more.

By maintaining seamless communication and coordination across sales channels, inventory locations and shipping operations, brands can more easily leverage this data to manage things like inventory and pricing information across various touchpoints, reducing the risk of stockouts and discrepancies while also personalizing marketing strategies and optimizing their product offerings. The key here is eliminating data fragmentation from your tech stack by consolidating data from various channels into a single source of truth, organizing data in a way that provides you real-time insights that help you make more informed decisions while helping merchants sell more and reach their customers wherever they are.

WWD: What is the value proposition for brands and retailers partnering with Cart.com and using its unified commerce platform?

R.T.: Unified Commerce helps brands and retailers improve operational efficiency, create a more seamless shopping experience across channels, optimize inventory management and improve customer loyalty — all while providing a holistic view of your operations with the flexibility and scalability to adapt as market conditions or customer preferences evolve. With real-time visibility into orders across channels and inventory across locations, retailers are able to adopt more efficient inventory management practices, more easily maintain optimal stock levels, reduce overstock and stockouts and ensure the right products are available at the right time to meet customer demand.

Customers also benefit from reduced friction across online and offline channels and in turn build stronger relationships and trust with the brand. Some key opportunities that unified commerce unlocks for the customer include consistent product availability, pricing and promotions across both digital platforms and physical stores as well as flexible fulfillment options, including buy online, pick up in store, curbside pickup and same-day delivery.

WWD: What are some of the specific ROIs users of your platform experience?

R.T.: Cart.com has a track record of delivering meaningful improvements in performance and cost for customers across ecommerce, retail and wholesale distribution channels, particularly for high-sku count, high order volume apparel brands like City Chic.

Our facilities are all powered by Constellation, our proprietary order and warehouse management system [OMS and WMS] software, which we recently made available as a stand-alone solution. Constellation streamlines everything from order routing, picking and packing and labeling to shipping operations, compliance and more. We’re able to onboard and launch brands in less than 30 days while delivering real-time order and inventory visibility and control from a modern, cloud-based platform. Ultimately, all of this translates to improved precision, productivity and cost efficiency for brands.