GSI, Dick's sign new contract

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. and PITTSBURGH GSI Commerce and Dick's Sporting Goods announced that they have signed a new 15-year contract. 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.

"Our goal is to provide a high-quality, seamless shopping experience for our customers across all channels," said Edward Stack, chairman and ceo of Dick's Sporting Goods. "We've 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, Dick's Sporting Goods will be the seller of merchandise through its e-commerce business beginning Feb. 1, 2009, and GSI will continue to provide Dick's Sporting Goods with a full suite of services, including e-commerce technology, customer service, fulfillment, drop ship management, interactive marketing and e-mail marketing. Dick's 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.

Related to the deal, gsi interactive(sm), a division of GSI, was selected as the digital marketing agency of record for Dick's Sporting Goods, providing design services, paid search, comparison shopping engines (CSEs) and affiliate marketing services. Dick's Sporting Goods also has agreed to continue to utilize the services of e-Dialog, a wholly owned subsidiary of GSI, to continue to supply Dick's Sporting Goods with enhanced permission-based e-mail marketing services to its Scorecard members designed to maximize their long-term customer value.