InformationWeek

QRS has been acquiring companies, forging partnerships, and creating new companies to bolster its position in the online retail market (see box). Most recently, QRS formed a partnership with CrossCommerce Corp., an online merchandising service provider, to help market and sell QRS's product portfolio via other companies' Web sites.

CrossCommerce provides its customers--online content sites--with ready-made stores so they can add E-commerce to their sites. Those stores will now include access to QRS's inventory of products, which come from a variety of manufacturers and retailers.

QRS is a recognized leader in the retail market, says Roy Lobo, an analyst with financial-analysis firm Moors & Cabot. It provides E-commerce services to more than 8,500 retailers, vendors, and manufacturers, and carries more than 80 million items in its database of merchandise. It reports consistent growth of 30% to 45% year over year. "Everybody recognizes them as the hub and spoke," he says.

The alliance with CrossCommerce and its other initiatives will help QRS grow in the online world, Lobo says. "For example, the CrossCommerce deal will bring them new revenue because they'll charge money per each access," Lobo says.

Industry experts say the QRS-CrossCommerce duo will help online businesses move more quickly and successfully into E-commerce. "QRS deals in literally thousands of categories, in everything from groceries to apparel, and they have a huge execution history in the brick-and-mortar world," says Dave Leyrer, principal at Nexus Group LLC, a New York firm that helps companies establish E-businesses.

Partnering with QRS gives CrossCommerce "a tremendous amount of credibility, and that in turn helps our credibility in talking with our clients," says Don Giannatti, a partner with Ocean Integrated Media Group, a Phoenix firm that provides Web design, systems integration, and consulting services to help companies get into online business.