Blueport Commerce

Blueport Commerce provides a specialized e-commerce platform for North America's large furniture retailers, designed to manage the complexities of selling high-value, high-consideration items online. The company operates on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, generating revenue by providing retailers with the technology and services needed to create and run their own branded omnichannel websites.

The company's history is intertwined with the dot-com era, evolving from Furniture.com. Carl Prindle, the founder and CEO, was the SVP of Product Development for Furniture.com in 1999. After witnessing the challenges of a pure online model for furniture, he led the effort to purchase the company's assets, recognizing that a successful strategy required integrating with physical stores. This led to a pivot towards a B2B model, where the technology developed for Furniture.com was offered to retailers to build their own sites. Officially launched as Blueport Commerce in 2009, the firm was spun out as a separate entity in 2016 to focus exclusively on providing this omnichannel platform. Prindle’s background includes a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan, which informed his approach to solving the specific logistical and sales challenges of the furniture industry.

The Blueport platform is engineered to augment a retailer's existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, enabling a swift launch of a sophisticated online store. Its architecture is cloud-native and built to handle the unique attributes of furniture retail, such as complex product customizations, varied delivery requirements, and the need to sync online and in-store inventory and sales. Key features include tools for salespeople to assist in omnichannel selling, native geolocation to tailor the digital experience to a local store, and the ability for shoppers to move carts between online and in-store environments. Blueport also offers a suite of managed services, including marketing, merchandising, and content support, to help its retail clients maximize their sales across all channels.

Serving primarily Top 100 furniture retailers, Blueport enables them to turn their brick-and-mortar stores into a strategic advantage rather than a complication. The platform is offered in two main tiers: 'Essentials' for midsize retailers and 'Enterprise' for large-scale operations seeking more customization and scalability. By focusing on this niche, Blueport addresses the shortcomings of generic e-commerce platforms that were not designed for the complexities of "big-ticket" retail. Keywords: omnichannel furniture platform, retail e-commerce solutions, big-ticket retail, furniture ERP integration, SaaS for furniture stores, online furniture sales, cloud e-commerce platform, Carl Prindle, retail technology, e-commerce merchandising, online storefronts for retailers, furniture inventory management, omnichannel shopping experience, retail sales tools, e-commerce managed services, Boston tech, B2B e-commerce, digital retail solutions, customer journey retail, home furnishings e-commerce