Omnichannel fulfillment provider Stord said Tuesday it has assumed the lease of Quiet Logistics’s order-preparation center in Dallas and responsibility for supporting interested Quiet customers following American Eagle Outfitters’ decision last month to shutter its third-party logistics subsidiary.
Terms of the agreement with American Eagle Outfitters were not disclosed.
It is Stord’s second major deal this year following last month’s purchase of e-commerce logistics specialist Shipwire, underscoring the company’s aggressive expansion strategy. Last year, Stord bought Ware2Go, an on-demand warehousing and fulfillment network, from UPS and outlined plans to invest up to $40 million to expand its fulfillment center and hire staff in Hebron, Kentucky. Stord, which says it is profitable, raised $200 million from investors to help fuel its expansion.
Tuesday’s agreement ensures continuity for Quiet customers while expanding Stord’s footprint into the Dallas market.
“Stord has an agreement with Quiet where Stord is the preferred fulfillment provider for former Quiet customers, including brands in the Dallas facility and across the former Quiet network. We are actively working with impacted customers across locations beyond Dallas to transition into Stord’s global fulfillment network and technology platform,” a Stord spokesman said in a statement.
American Eagle began to disband the Quiet Logistics operation in January in what analysts say was an acknowledgment that providing logistics services to outside companies was not profitable. American Eagle,as previously reported, said it will focus on managing logistics for its own supply chain going forward. Quiet also operated warehouses in Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Stord is a logistics supermarket for small-and-medium online retailers, providing everything from online checkout, to last-mile delivery, as well as returns, with a technology platform that manages inventory, order processing, warehouse pick-and-pack, and courier selection. It operates about a dozen major fulfillment hubs in 13 buildings, including ones in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
“Our whole mission is to enable brands of all sizes to get Amazon-like delivery speeds, costs and consumer experiences . . . through an end-to-end fulfillment network and a vertically integrated software platform that runs the assets, orchestrates the network,” said founder and CEO Sean Henry,on the Grit podcast last summer. Grit is a production of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, one of Stord’s investors.
Click here for more FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.
Sign up for the biweekly PostalMag newsletter The Delivery here.
RECOMMENDED READING:
American Eagle, Office Depot pull plug on third-party logistics services
Stord buys e-commerce specialist Shipwire from Ceva Logistics
Veho to flex delivery speed for price-sensitive e-commerce sellers
