CommerceHub acquires Dsco & Creates Dropship Behemoth

SaaS
Written By Rick Watson

Some interesting news in the dropship / omnichannel industry - CommerceHub acquired Dsco.io.

It is completely undeniable that Frank Poore and Jeremy Hanks are two of the pioneers of the entire dropship industry.

I remember going to IRCE, eBay Live, etc. going back to 2003 and seeing the Doba signs near the ChannelAdvisor booth - wondering, "what's this really all about?" That morphed into dropship (dot) com, which morphed into DSCO.

CommerceHub went a slightly different path - primarily with Enterprise customers. Frank has sold the same company more times than I can count - how many people can say that? Also very few people have monetized a supplier network the same way CommereHub has - and new entrants without market power all envy their business model, I can tell you that 100%.

I’m linking to this note from Erik Morton, the SVP of Product/Strategy at CommerceHub about the announcement (which itself is profiled here). One wouldn’t be off-base to expect them to go public next year.

Ultimately, the industry doesn't change. They control the high-end of the dropship market, and CHUB now adds Nordstrom, Kohl's, and REI to its roster - if there were any supplier gaps before at the high-end, well, there aren't anymore. Interesting to see what the crew comes up with. Congrats all.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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