GSI Commerce Inc. and Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. have signed a new 15-year contract, extending their successful relationship. Consistent with Dicks Sporting Goods goal to have a seamless multichannel operation, under the new agreement, Dicks Sporting Goods will buy and own the sporting goods inventory sold online. This is a significant change from the prior agreement and is comparable with GSIs other multichannel non-owned inventory e-commerce agreements.
The new contract comes after sales through dickssportinggoods.com have grown to more than 10 times the sales it experienced since the beginning of its relationship with GSI in 2001.
Consistent with Dicks Sporting Goods goal to have a seamless multichannel operation, under the new agreement, Dicks Sporting Goods will buy and own the sporting goods inventory sold online. This is a significant change from the prior agreement and is comparable with GSIs other multichannel non-owned inventory e-commerce agreements.
“Our goal is to provide a high-quality, seamless shopping experience for our customers across all channels,” said Edward W. Stack, chairman and CEO of Dicks Sporting Goods. “Weve had a very successful relationship with GSI for the past seven years, evidenced by the significant growth of our e-commerce business. This new deal gives us even more flexibility, greater control and ultimately enables us to better serve our customers while accelerating our multichannel strategy.”
Under the agreement, Dicks Sporting Goods will be the seller of merchandise through its e-commerce business beginning Feb. 1, 2009, and GSI will continue to provide Dicks Sporting Goods with a full suite of services, including e-commerce technology, customer service, fulfillment, drop ship management, interactive marketing and e-mail marketing. Dicks Sporting Goods will concentrate on enhancing its customers experience by better aligning their online assortment of merchandise with their stores. New capabilities such as in-store pickup and in-store ordering will also be added, making the experience more convenient for customers.
“We are excited to take our partnership with Dicks Sporting Goods to the next level,” said Michael G. Rubin, chairman and CEO of GSI. “This new agreement will better position us to maximize value for both companies. We believe Dicks Sporting Goods has tremendous multichannel potential given their position as one of the largest and fasting growing retailers in the United States and the preeminent player in sporting goods retail.”
Dicks Sporting Goods current contract with GSI was set to expire in 2011.
“As we conducted a thorough evaluation of potential options for how to better serve our customers, we determined that continuing to work with GSI was the best alternative for us,” said Stack. “We believe that GSI offers the best solution that complements our long-term strategic plan and that they are the right e-commerce provider to help us grow our multichannel business another 10 times over the next decade.”
Related to the deal, gsi interactivesm, a division of GSI, was selected as the digital marketing agency of record for Dicks Sporting Goods, providing design services, paid search, comparison shopping engines (CSEs) and affiliate marketing services. Dicks Sporting Goods also has agreed to continue to utilize the services of e-Dialog, a wholly owned subsidiary of GSI, to continue to supply Dicks Sporting Goods with enhanced permission-based e-mail marketing services to its Scorecard members designed to maximize their long-term customer value.
