Ware2Go, a UPS company and provider of on-demand fulfilment and warehousing, has announced a new partnership with clothing giant Gap Inc.’s GPS Platform Services division to offer small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) access to ‘enterprise-level’ supply chain technology.
Through the partnership, the two companies hope to broaden smaller companies’ access to supply chain networks and robotics and automation technologies to help scale businesses’ logistics capabilities.
According to the pair, the combined warehousing solution will offer SMBs access to new fulfilment centres equipped with advanced technology, automation and robotics that can deliver a scalable network to provide improved order fulfilment.
The Ware2Go and GPS Platform Services’ solution is intended to relieve logistical pressures to enable companies to re-focus on other areas, such as marketing and product development.
“This collaboration between Ware2Go and GPS Platform Services is the next chapter in the longstanding relationship between Gap Inc. and UPS,” said Kevin Kuntz, head of global logistics fulfilment at Gap Inc.
“We have a deep shared history and decades-long partnership anchored in customer focus and commitment to innovation.
“Together we will help SMBs grow their brands with our combined logistics infrastructure and cutting-edge automation.”
Research from Ware2Go highlights that many SMBs want to move away from owned warehouses towards co-warehousing partnerships.
Its report reveals that 65% of SMBs are actively planning over the next one to two years to make either short- or long-term investments to expand leased warehousing space and that 74% of SMBs surveyed believe the future of fulfilment is shared.
“The future of fulfilment looks like SMBs owning zero warehouses,” said Steve Denton, CEO of Ware2Go.
“Our merchants want to remain focused on growing their business and product portfolios, and not worry about the ins-and-outs of their inventory placement or building up a labour workforce to support peak season.
“This collaboration makes it easier than ever before for SMBs to outsource their fulfilment while still accessing incredible customer support and deep transparency into their inventory placements and delivery times.”
Together, Ware2Go and Gap claim to have access to more than 35 warehouses and distribution centres, as well as advanced machine learning and data science capabilities.
