New Book Shares Entrepreneur's Voyage Toward Digital Retail Innovation

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Dec. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Following 25 years of experience in retail and eCommerce, Shopatron Founder and CEO Ed Stevens today announced the release of his first book, Allied To Win: How I Launched and Led a Leading eCommerce Company.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101109/SHOPATRONLOGO)

The colorful story of Allied to Win unfolds as Stevens discovers the life force of the brick-and-mortar store in 1998 at a Russian factory, where his company Norvel, a manufacturer & distributor of model engine airplanes, became one of the first brands in the hobby industry to launch an online store. Faced with the fundamental disconnect between online and offline channels, Stevens conceived a collaborative platform that would empower brick-and-mortar retailers within the online marketplace, a model that would become the foundation of Shopatron in 2001.

Today, Stevens' 12-year-old startup has transformed the way retail channels work together to put products in the hands of online shoppers, setting the industry's standards for in-store pickup and ship-from-store fulfillment. The cloud-based Shopatron Order Exchange is the core of Shopatron's cutting-edge technology, which allows manufacturers and retailers to seamlessly leverage the available inventory of every retail storefront and distribution center when fulfilling online orders.

Stevens' patented, revolutionary approach to omnichannel retailing has inspired a global movement of transformative order management and fulfillment capabilities, motivating over 1,000 leading brands to enrich their eCommerce initiatives, and making Shopatron one of the fastest-growing North American companies for two years running, according to both Inc. Magazine and Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Drawing from a childhood spent perfecting the art of selling at his family's Ohio furniture store, campus life at the United States Naval Academy, grueling drills on a submarine passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, and the bootstrap launch of Shopatron, Stevens winds together lessons of leadership into a narrative fit for entrepreneurs and business veterans alike.

"Ed Stevens is an amazing entrepreneur with a fresh, funny and brutally honest perspective," said Sucharita Mulpuru, Vice President & Principal Analyst serving eBusiness and Channel Strategy Professionals at Forrester. "For anyone launching, working in, or thinking of working in a B2B technology business, this is essential reading."

Allied to Win gives readers an inside look at the rise of Shopatron and the leader behind it, as he chronicles the company's early days from a two-man operation huddled in the corner of a dark warehouse to a successful, multi-million dollar company. Stevens exposes the little known struggles that came with turning one powerful idea into the leading disruptive technology that is driving the future of retail.

For more information, visit:
Allied to Win: How I Launched and Led a Leading eCommerce Company
By, Edward Stevens
FirePoppy Press (Dec. 12, 2013)
Available on Amazon.

About the Author
Edward Stevens is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for disruptive retail technology and over 25 years of experience in retail and eCommerce. Ed founded Shopatron in 2001. He is an avid triathlete and is married to his college sweetheart, Robin. They have two children and reside in Carpinteria, California.

About Shopatron
Shopatron is the world's leading provider of cloud-based, eCommerce order-management solutions. Our Shopatron Order Exchange allows manufacturers and multi-channel retailers to seamlessly leverage the available inventory of every retail storefront and distribution center when fulfilling online orders. Unlike legacy order management software or custom-built solutions, Shopatron makes it easy and affordable to deploy advanced capabilities like in-store pickup, ship-from-store, inventory lookup, and vendor drop-ship. With Shopatron, retail channels join forces to increase sales, turn inventory, and deliver a superior purchase experience to online shoppers.

SOURCE Shopatron, Inc.