Behind every online store sit warehouses, pick lists, shipping labels, returns and call centers. PFSweb offered to run all of it. The company was spun out of Daisytek, a distributor of computer supplies, and it sold that know-how to brands that wanted to sell directly on the web. When it filed to go public in late 1999, retailers and manufacturers were rushing online without knowing how they would deliver.

Daisytek's Warehouse Skills, for Rent

PFSweb bet that many companies would want to sell online without building their own fulfillment operations. It took over the work after the click. It processed orders, stored goods, packed and shipped them, handled payments, and answered customer calls. That gave a brand one partner for the whole chain, from the warehouse shelf to the customer's phone call. It brought its parent's logistics experience to brands that had never shipped single orders to consumers.

Two Decades, Then GXO

PFSweb priced at $17 a share in December 1999. Its shares fell with the market, but the business it chose lasted as e-commerce kept growing. It served brands in fashion, health and consumer goods. For a time it also ran an e-commerce agency. It stayed public for more than two decades. In 2023 the logistics company GXO bought PFSweb and added its fulfillment network to GXO's own.

Cover: The New Dock at la Rochelle, Gustave Leheutre. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a harbor dock (goods shipped out).