Outsourcing: Four Ways to Choose the Best Service Providers

A panel of marketing executives at multichannel merchants addressed the dual challenge of deciding to outsource and finding the right service firm during a session at last week’s Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. Following are their tips:

* Learn from the best merchants. “While I try to find out about great solutions from other merchants at conferences and events, often the best resources are top 100 or top 500 lists that are published in magazines,” said Adrienne Hartman, director of the Internet for footwear merchant Shoemall.com and a former Internet manager at Lands’ End. “I’ll browse through a top merchant list and find out which vendors these companies are using.