RedPrairie offers services throughout supply chain
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, March 4, 2011
Kozenski
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — With its acquisition of retail and e-commerce software specialist Escalate Retail, RedPrairie Corp. is now in the position to serve furniture companies all the way through the supply chain - from pick-up at the manufacturer's loading dock to customer fulfillment by smart phone.
RedPrairie was already a giant in warehouse, transportation and workforce management, with installations at 34,000 customer sites in 40 countries. With Escalate, RedPrairie gains a company strong in e-commerce, order management and services that directly impact shoppers.
In the deal, settled for an undisclosed amount, San Diego- based Escalate brings with it a number of top retail customers, including furniture customers Ashley, El Dorado, Jerome's, Raymour & Flanigan, Mattress Giant, Gumps, ZGallerie, Lamps Plus and others.
"We both are heavy into the furniture industry," said Tom Kozenski, RedPrairie's vice president of product strategy. "We have some customers they don't have, and they have some we don't. But we both have vibrant furniture lines, and that's part of the synergies of the acquisition."
Both companies also handle a diverse range of clients that are not home furnishings related. RedPrairie, for instance, serves convenience store chains, department and big box stores, and supermarkets including Giant Eagle and ShopRite, while Escalate lists retailers that include Brooks Brothers, Coldwater Creek, Casual Male, Frontgate, Louvre, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Bahama and others.
RedPrairie is privately held, and Kozenski declined to provide annual sales figures for the company, but Internet site Answers.com put 2009 revenues at $261 million. That provides a base figure for a now much larger company that, besides finalizing the acquisition of Escalate on Feb. 2, also acquired Shippers Commonwealth, a transportation management company, on Jan. 19, and SofTechnics Inc., an inventory and price management solutions provider, on Jan. 10.
Kozenski said that retail makes up half of the merged companies' business. "The Escalate acquisition only did more to complement that focus within the retail market," he added. "Furniture is as big as any area we cover."
Using the company's platform of services, RedPrairie can issue a pick-up order, collect the merchandise at the vendor's factory, ship it "because we have transportation capabilities," receive it at the warehouse, store it, manage it on the showroom floor, manage transportation, inventory and workforce from the supply chain to the retail store, and deliver the product to the customer's door. In addition, it can handle the Internet, smart phones, social media and other new ways customers are shopping and buying.
Alpharetta, Ga.-based Red Prairie now owns Escalate Retail.
"When you look at the breadth of our capabilities, no other software company has the footprint of RedPrairie," Kozenski said.
The companies will operate under the RedPrairie brand, with headquarters here in this Atlanta suburb.
Response to the acquisition has been very positive, according to Kozenski. "Whether they're a potential or future customer or existing customers, we are offering them a value proposition that we can provide the majority of their business applications from a single vendor."
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