Radial challenges Amazon with expanded fulfillment service

Omnichannel commerce operations provider Radial will challenge the online retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc. with a new suite of solutions, services, and partners for its clients, the company said Friday.

The package could help mid-market retailers that lack the skills, scale, and resources to deliver a competitive consumer experience while still generating a profit, the King of Prussia, Pa.-based company said. Radial says these firms are trying to survive in an ever-shrinking available market, as Amazon continues to command the lion's share of American shoppers' wallets.

"Each step from order to delivery requires flawless execution to satisfy consumers who don't think of or care about the notion of channels," Radial Chief Product and Strategy Officer Stefan Weitz said in a release. "Amazon's increasing dominance is a wakeup call to retailers to put all the necessary pieces in place to ensure their businesses survive and thrive."

Radial was formed in 2016 when the e-commerce fulfillment firms eBay Enterprise and Innotrac joined forces with the intention to provide order management, payment processing, order routing, fulfillment, and analytics services. The combined entity runs about 30 distribution centers and six call centers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, serving online retailers like DSW Inc., GameStop Corp., Shoe Carnival Inc., and Destination XL Group Inc.

Radial picks, packs, and ships for smaller, fast-growing businesses, as well as established global retailers, for less than the cost of insourced services, the company claims.

Its new package of services includes the technology platforms Radial Order Management (ROM), an enterprise-class order management system optimized for retail, and Radial Payments and Fraud, a solution for boosting sales conversion and eliminating fraud liability for clients.

Radial's new operational offerings include consumer-centric technologies such as the Visual Response smartphone app; the Customized Digital Handwriting tool, which integrates with CRM to create personalized promotional offers; and a Mobile Order Alerts text system that alerts customers about the status of their shipments.

Finally, Radial's new Partner Program has enlisted vetted technology providers to help retailers, such as the system integrators Born Group, LyonsCG, Astound Commerce Corp., Gorilla Group, Guidance Solutions Inc., and Ignition Commerce. Other partners include the commerce front-end platform SAP Hybris and the payment converter Klarna Inc.