PFSweb, Inc. (Priority Fulfillment Services) is a provider of

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

(B2B) and

direct-to-consumer Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

(DTC) order fulfillment and customer service for

eCommerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managemen ...

Services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

offered by PFSweb include: :*Processing and

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

orders :*Customer care :*Managing

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

:*eCommerce site development :*

Digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development duri ...

services (creative, analytics, SEO/SEM, etc.) The company was founded in 1994 in the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

suburb of

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

. PFSweb's corporate headquarters were relocated to

Allen, Texas Allen is a city in Collin County in the U.S. state of Texas, and a northern suburb of Dallas. According to the 2020 U.S. census its population was 104,627, up from 84,246 in 2010. Allen is located approximately twenty miles (32.2 km) north ...

in March 2012 with call center operations moved to downtown

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

History

1994-1998: Origin under Daisytek

PFSweb, Inc. was founded in 1994 as Priority Fulfillment Services, Inc. (PFS) by Texas-based Daisytek International Corporation, a leading wholesale

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

of computer and office automation supplies such as printer ribbons, toner cartridges, and computer disks. The new unit, founded and conceived by Daisytek CEO Mark C. Layton, was initially created to perform order-processing, fulfillment, and

telemarketing Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent f ...

services for other companies, due to a growing demand for outsourcing in this area. Soon after its formation under Daisytek, PFSweb was chosen to perform telemarketing and distribution services for IBM product lines throughout North America. PFSweb soon began to take on additional clients, and Daisytek doubled the size of its own "superhub" warehouse/shipping center in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

in part because of the unit's success.

1999-2001: PFSweb completes its IPO and expands into Europe

In January 1999, the company formed a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an division, PFSweb Europe, with 10 employees working at a call and fulfillment center in

Maastricht, Netherlands Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

, and also launched a new division that offered order fulfillment services to internet-based retailers. It was targeted toward both web-based and brick-and-mortar firms who were adding web

ordering Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

capabilities to their businesses and needed to get systems and staff in place quickly. In early December 1999, one-fifth of the company, now bearing the name PFSweb Inc., highlighted by its eCommerce capabilities, was sold in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

(

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

). Mark Layton, the 40-year-old CEO of Daisytek, who had recently published a book called ''“.coms or .bombs ... Strategies for Profit in e-Business”'', took the titles of president, CEO, and chairman of PFSweb, while remaining the board chairman of Daisytek. In June 2000, Daisytek completed a tax free distribution of its remaining share ownership of PFSweb to its shareholders and as part of the design of this transaction, Layton resigned as chairman and CEO of Daisytek in order to focus full attention on the leadership of PFSweb. In late July 2000, PFSweb introduced the Entente Suite of

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

, which offered full eCommerce support from web site interface to back-office accounting functions, customizable to meet each customer's needs. PFSweb also added managed hosting and web site development services to its offerings. To accomplish the former, the firm established a secure data center.

2002-2004: Online expansion and company layoffs

In February 2002, PFSweb began offering customized

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

and supplier inventory services to further support its clients. In June, PFSweb signed a five-year contract with the Smithsonian Institution's Business Ventures unit to provide fulfillment services for catalog and web orders. An alliance was also formed with

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

that would allow PFSweb's clients to distribute their products via that firm's online auction site. PFSweb was striving to cut costs after losing key clients during the .com bubble burst, which ultimately forced them to lay off 60 employees, paring its total staff to about 550. In June 2004, PFSweb, Texas, and Raytheon Aircraft Company jointly announced that PFSweb would perform fulfillment services at the Raytheon Aircraft Parts Inventory & Distribution (RAPID) facility. In August 2004, the company signed a lease on a warehouse/shipping center in

Southaven, Mississippi Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making Southaven the third-largest city in Mississippi and the second most populous ...

, which was located near its Memphis superhub site. The firm had been in a dispute with Memphis officials since 2003, when former parent company Daisytek had gone

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

and tax breaks previously granted for the Memphis site had ended. When an appeal to re-acquire the tax breaks was denied, the firm sought a new location outside of Memphis.

2005-2007: Adding eCOST.com and Asia expansion

In June 2005, PFSweb launched a new corporate website to reflect the company's position as a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. In November 2005, PFSweb and

eCOST.com eCost.com was an online retailer based in Torrance, California. Founded in 1999, the retailer sold a variety of products, such as electronics, jewelry, and household items. The retailer was started as a subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary com ...

announced that they had entered into a non-binding

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a contract, legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a Heads of agreement ( ...

(LOI) signifying the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of PFSweb and eCOST.com. Under the terms of the merge, PFSweb issued eCOST.com shareholders one PFSweb common share for each outstanding share of eCOST.com in a tax-free, share-for-share transaction. As a result, eCOST.com became a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of PFSweb. The merger was officially completed in February 2006. In 2006, PFSweb named Michael Willoughby as the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the company and acquired several notable clients, including

LEGO Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

Roots Canada Ltd Roots Corporation (doing business as Roots) is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by Michael ...

, and Katun Canada. PFSweb, Inc. announced in April 2007 that it would be expanding customer care services operations with a new customer call center in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The new facility, located in downtown

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, initially housed the

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

department for eCOST.com, but on a case-by-case basis the services of this location were also offered to PFSweb clients.

2008-2010: Partnerships and new clients

In early 2008, PFSweb formed a partnership with

Demandware Demandware is a software technology company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts that provides a cloud-based unified e-commerce platform with mobile, AI personalization, order management capabilities, and related services for B2C and B2B re ...

to assist in targeting the e-commerce technology market - the purpose was to combine Demandware's e-commerce platform with PFSweb's fulfillment and

customer care Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

services. PFSweb integrated the technology with its existing services, allowing PFSweb to enter into the marketplace of

End-to-End End-to-end or End to End may refer to: * End-to-end auditable voting systems, a voting system * End-to-end delay, the time for a packet to be transmitted across a network from source to destination * End-to-end encryption, a cryptographic paradigm ...

(E2E) suppliers with PFSweb's End2End eCommerce® solution. PFSweb announced in April 2009 a five-year agreement had been reached with Army & Air Force Exchange Service (

AAFES The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, also referred to as The Exchange and The PX or The BX) is the retailer in U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. The Exchange is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its director/chief exe ...

) to provide a comprehensive global fulfillment solution that supports the All Services Exchange Catalog and Online Store. On January 15, 2010, it was announced that PFSweb and Procter and Gamble ( P&G) had joined to launch an online store. Named the “eStore”, this online shopping site is owned and operated by PFSweb and will exclusively feature P&G products for sale to consumers within the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The eStore was planned to launch in the spring of 2010, pending a pilot of the site with 5,000 consumers. On April 7, 2010,

Carter's, Inc. Carter's, Inc. is a major American designer and marketer of children's apparel. It was founded in 1865 by William Carter. Carter's sells its products through its own Carter's and OshKosh B'gosh retail stores, its website, and in other retail ...

selected PFSweb to operate their innovative multi-brand web store along with their

high-touch High-touch refers to the involvement of personal attention and service. In business, the term often refers to situations where trust between the customer and employed individual(s) is necessary. High-touch areas include: medicine, wealth management, ...

customer care services, as well as fully branded order fulfillment and comprehensive financial transaction management for the Carter's and

OshKosh B'Gosh OshKosh B'gosh is an American children's apparel company founded in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is a subsidiary of Carter's. The company was founded in 1895 as the Grove Manufacturing Company by Frank E. Grove, J. Howard Jenkins, and James Clark. Gr ...

brands.

2011-2013: Sale of eCOST.com and the launch of an omni-channel solution

On February 22, 2011, it was announced that PFSweb completed the sale of certain assets of eCOST.com to a new subsidiary of PC Mall, Inc. for $2.3 million. In addition, PC Mall has contracted with PFSweb to provide a variety of eCommerce services, including IT and customer care to support PC Mall's newly acquired eCOST.com operations on a temporary basis. PFSweb announced on March 22, 2011, its partnership with luxury brand

kate spade Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan Spade (born Katherine Noel Brosnahan; December 24, 1962 – June 5, 2018) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur as well as a fashion Icon. She was the founder and co-owner of the designer brand ...

New York using its End2End eCommerce offering. This eCommerce effort was unique for PFSweb in that the kate spade New York website not only features an eCommerce storefront, but also a collaborative "play" section focused on content instead of products. PFSweb also announced on September 15, 2011, its global relationship with the

Clarins Clarins is a family-run French multinational cosmetics company, which was founded in Paris in 1954 by Jacques Courtin-Clarins. In addition to manufacturing and selling skincare and makeup products, the company is also a major player in the spa and ...

Group and on January 4, 2012, an agreement with

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

USA to launch and manage eCommerce sites for a portfolio of brands including

Kiehl's Kiehl's LLC is an American cosmetics brand retailer that specializes in skin, hair, and body care products. It started as a single pharmacy in Manhattan at Third Avenue and East 13th Street in 1851. Kiehl's was purchased by the L'Oréal Group in ...

Lancôme Lancôme () is a French luxury perfumes and cosmetics house that distributes products internationally. Lancôme is part of the L'Oréal Luxury Products division, which is its parent company and offers luxury skin care, fragrances, and makeup at ...

, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, and Giorgio

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

Beauty. In March 2012, Gerber Childrenswear announced their updated eCommerce website using PFSweb's End2End eCommerce solution and in April 2012, PFSweb announced an agreement with Elizabeth Arden. PFSweb announced more clients in 2012 including

Amer Sports Amer Sports Oyj is a Finnish sporting goods retailer and holding company overseeing equipment brands Salomon, Arc'teryx, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Wilson, Armada, ENVE Composites, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, and Sports Tracker.

Group and its

Suunto Suunto Oy is a Finnish company that manufactures and markets sports watches, dive computers, compasses and precision instruments. Headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto employs more than 300 people worldwide, and its products are sold in over ...

brand,

W. L. Gore and Associates W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is an American multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers. It is a privately held corporation headquartered in Newark, Delaware. It is best known as the developer of wat ...

and its BIKE WEAR and RUNNING WEAR brands, and Pandora A/S. The company also received another supplier of the year award from Riverbed and launched a new solution through a partnership with Shopatron to create an omni-channel commerce solution. At the end of 2012 it was announced PFSweb was selected to launch and support eCommerce solutions for

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

brands

Gevalia Gevalia ( , , ) is the largest coffee roastery in Scandinavia. In North America, the company sells coffee directly to consumers via home delivery and through big box stores such as Wal-Mart. Gevalia discontinued sales of tea in 2015. Customers ...

and

Tassimo The Tassimo Hot Beverage System is a consumer single-serve coffee system that prepares one-cup servings of espresso, regular coffee, tea, hot chocolate and various other coffee drinks, notably those including milk such as latte or cappuccino. Th ...

. In February 2013, PFSweb announced a relationship with BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP and also launched a branded eCommerce site for spirits and alcoholic beverage producer

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

. The following month, PFSweb announced a leadership change as Mike Willoughby replaced Mark Layton as CEO of the company. One of Willoughby's first actions as CEO was the forming of a relationship with Japanese company transcosmos, who also made a $14.7 million investment in PFSweb. New clients added in 2013 included

TJX Companies The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Discount store, off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre, Zayre ...

, L'Oréal brand

Clarisonic Clarisonic, or Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, Inc., was a company based in Redmond, Washington that produced the Clarisonic line of skin care devices. The company was sold to L'Oreal in 2011. In 2018, Clarisonic devices made up 14% of the skin c ...

, the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

, and Delsey Luggage. PFSweb announced in 2014 it would provide eCommerce solutions for the Japanese mattress topper brand airweave by leveraging its relationship with transcosmos. Other client additions included L'Oreal brand Urban Decay, and Canada eCommerce support for the brand Canada Goose.

2014-Present: Company acquisitions and international growth

PFSweb acquired two companies in September 2014 - REV Solutions (eCommerce development and integration) and LiveAreaLabs (creative services, user experience, and digital strategy). The company continued its international growth into 2015 by launching offices in Germany and the U.K. as well as expanding operations in Bangalore, India (a result of the Manila office closing). PFSweb completed the acquisitions of MODA Superbe Limited (MODA), a European eCommerce system integrator and consultancy in June and eCommerce systems integrator CrossView in August 2015. PFSweb completed the acquisition of Conexus Limited, a U.K.-based eCommerce system integrator in June 2015.PFSweb Acquires Conexus, a U.K. based eCommerce System Integrator
/ref>

2015-2016: PFSweb rebrands to PFS, launches Consulting practice

PFSweb launched their official Consulting practice in November 2015, led by Douglas Hollinger, PhD.

References

External links

PFSweb Official Website
{{Dot-com Bubble Outsourcing companies Providers of services to on-line companies Online companies of the United States Companies based in Allen, Texas