SPS COMMERCE INC

SPS Commerce connects retailers and their suppliers so goods flow smoothly onto shelves. The company was founded in the late 1980s and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Retail runs on a constant exchange of documents. Orders, shipping notices, invoices. A big retailer works with thousands of suppliers, and every one must send these messages in the exact right format. Get it wrong and the order fails. SPS runs the network that keeps this trade in sync.

Its retail network handles that electronic data interchange in the cloud. A supplier connects once to SPS and can then trade with many retailers through a single link. The company also offers analytics that show how products sell across stores.

Suppose a small brand lands its first deal with a national grocery chain. That chain demands strict electronic ordering it has never done. Miss the standard and lose the account. SPS gets the brand compliant fast, so it can ship with confidence.

The model has a lovely quality. Both sides of the trade, retailers and suppliers, rely on the same network, which makes it sticky and hard to leave.

Revenue runs around $650 million a year, and the company has grown revenue for decades with steady profit. SPS is one of those quiet compounders. It owns a boring but vital job and keeps doing it very well.