Drayage, e-commerce returns added to Stord’s supply chain software

trucks with shipping containers wait at the Port of Houston

The introduction of Stord One Commerce last month has opened new opportunities for customers of cloud-based flexible warehouse company Stord. On Thursday, the company announced several new additions to its vendor- and sales-channel agnostics Stord One Commerce platform, including drayage capabilities.

The software and a recently announced partnership with Fresh Del Monte to access nationwide cold storage warehouse capacity means brands across the direct-to-consumer, business-to-business and omnichannel spaces can access Stord’s logistics capabilities, the company said.

The new additions include drayage, temperature-controlled fulfillment, custom packaging and e-commerce returns. They join B2B and B2C warehousing and fulfillment, retailer compliance prep and value-added services such as kitting and labeling as Stord offerings.

The company said the new additions complete a “port-to-porch supply chain” offering that helps brands manage their entire supply chain.

“When today’s brands try to make impactful changes to their supply chains, they’re severely limited due to too many partners and siloed systems,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “By bringing more parts of the supply chain under the Stord domain, brands can manage the entire process, from port to porch, all through a single partner.” 

Stord’s drayage and transloading capabilities allow brands to have containerized products moved from a U.S. port to any facility, whether in the Stord network or not. Customers will receive real-time freight management and support from dispatch to delivery, Stord noted.

Custom packaging and printed products are also part of its fulfillment operations and include packaging engineering and development capabilities.

E-commerce returns management is also new, allowing brands to handle receiving and disposition processing of returns at the warehouse through the Stord One Commerce platform.

Stord One Commerce allows brands to piece together their various logistics technology across providers, eliminating siloed data and additional software implementations. Stord said the tech solution serves as a “digital glue” that acts as a control tower and connects all elements of a brand’s supply chain. It features four components:

  •  Visibility into orders, inventory and shipments with extensive operational metrics and dashboards.
  •  Orchestration of the full order life cycle, from incoming sales channels to fulfillment channels, while intelligently automating order routing across multiple locations. Analytics help manage performance both inside and beyond the warehouse.
  • Optimization that powers business decisions by maximizing inventory return on investment and optimizing fulfillment across multiple channels.
  • Connectivity of all of a brand’s disparate systems, from ERPs and warehouse management systems to online marketplaces and retail partner systems in a single platform.

In July, Stord announced a partnership with Fresh Del Monte that opened up excess space inside 22 Fresh Del Monte cold storage facilities across the U.S. to Stord customers. As of last fall, refrigerated and frozen foods accounted for 9% and 13%, respectively, of total e-commerce grocery sales. Henry told Modern Shipper at the time that Stord customers, as part of the agreement, would be able to leverage some of Fresh Del Monte’s logistics capabilities.

In June, Stord added 780,000 square feet of warehouse space combined in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, and in New Haven, Connecticut. The markets are part of Stord’s six-node first-party fulfillment network, which also includes Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas. Combined with more than 1,000 partner facilities, Stord is able to reach 99% of U.S. consumers in two days or less via ground shipping.

In May, Stord announced the closing of a $210 million Series D funding round with a final installment of $120 million. The first part of the round, $90 million, was announced in September 2021. The May funding was led by Franklin Templeton. The entire Series D included participation from new investors Sozo Ventures, Strike Capital and 137 Ventures, along with existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Bond, Susa Ventures, Dynamo Ventures, Lux Capital and Salesforce Ventures.

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Source: freightwaves - Drayage, e-commerce returns added to Stord’s supply chain software
Editor: Brian Straight

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