Rithum is the company behind CommerceHub, Dsco and ChannelAdvisor, and the network many retailers use to run dropship. Connecting to it is the easy part. Keeping one available-to-sell number right in every channel at once is where brands get hurt.
Rithum is what CommerceHub, Dsco and ChannelAdvisor became. CommerceHub bought Dsco in 2020 and combined with ChannelAdvisor in 2022, and the company took the Rithum name in December 2023.
Retailers use it to run dropship and marketplace programs. Brands use it to receive those orders and send inventory, tracking and invoices back. The older names still show up in retailer onboarding packets and vendor portals, so a buyer who tells you to connect to CommerceHub, Dsco or Rithum usually means the same network.
| Name | What it was | Where you'll still see it |
|---|---|---|
| CommerceHub | Dropship and marketplace network, founded in New York in 1997 | Retailer dropship programs and vendor guides that predate the rename |
| Dsco | Dropship platform from Lehi, Utah, bought by CommerceHub in November 2020 | Retailer programs that still say Dsco, such as DSW's |
| ChannelAdvisor | Software for brands and sellers listing on marketplaces, combined with CommerceHub in November 2022 | Rithum's marketplace and channel tools |
| Rithum | The company name since December 2023 | Increasingly everywhere, as the older names are retired |
Rithum sits between you and the retailer. You send item data and inventory in, and the retailer lists what you say is available. When a customer orders, the retailer's purchase order comes through Rithum to you. You ship straight to the customer, send back shipment confirmation with tracking, then invoice the retailer. Retailers such as Nordstrom, Saks Off 5th, Zappos, DSW and URBN run dropship this way.
Two details catch brands out. Every SKU on an order has to already exist on the platform or the purchase order is rejected outright. And orders can be placed for items that are out of stock, so a stale inventory feed doesn't just cost you a sale. It creates a commitment you can't meet.
You don't have to use EDI. Suppliers can also work in Rithum's portal or connect through an API or a file-based integration. The data and the deadlines are the same whichever route you take.
DSW's drop ship vendor FAQ shows how tight those deadlines get. It lists a daily 846 inventory file as required, expects orders to ship within 24 hours, and wants cancellations sent within 24 hours through the 870 or a comment on the order in the Dsco portal.
A single unit of a style in size medium can be promised to a wholesale order, shown as available on your own site, and published to a dropship retailer at the same time. Only one of them can have it.
This isn't a dropship problem specifically. It's what happens when each channel reads from a different source. The wholesale allocation lives in the ERP, the website reads a Shopify inventory number, and the dropship feed comes from an export somebody scheduled months ago. All three are technically working. They just disagree.
The symptoms are easy to recognize. Oversells on the retailer's site, which hurt your scorecard and sometimes your standing in the program. Cancellations you have to explain. Safety stock buffers that grow every time someone gets burned, quietly shrinking what you can actually sell. And a weekly ritual where somebody reconciles three numbers by hand.
Most inventory platforms think in SKUs. Apparel thinks in style, color and size, with prepacks and assortments layered on top. A dropship feed that flattens your matrix into individual SKUs will drift, because the mapping has to be maintained by hand every time you add a colorway. Ask specifically how style, color, size and prepack structures survive the trip into the dropship platform.
Log into the portal, upload inventory, download orders, key them into your system, upload tracking. It works at low volume and needs no integration project. It breaks the moment volume rises or you add a second dropship retailer, because it's all manual and the feed is only as current as the last upload.
A connector platform sits between your ERP or ecommerce system and Rithum, moving data both ways. It's pre-built, quick to go live, and stays put if you later change ERP. The costs are another subscription, another vendor in the chain, and a sync interval, which means your availability is accurate as of the last run, not right now.
The ERP connects to the dropship platform directly and serves availability from the same pool that feeds wholesale and DTC. That removes the sync interval and the extra vendor, and keeps one system of record. The catch is that fewer apparel ERPs offer it, and you're tied to that vendor's roadmap for the connection.
Some apparel ERPs publish native Rithum or Dsco connections, and many route dropship through middleware or the portal. Ask any vendor directly which retailers are live on their connection today, not which ones are technically supported.
The last one is the question most worth asking early. Brands that build a one-off connection for their first dropship account usually rebuild it for the second.
Rithum is the company name. CommerceHub, Dsco and ChannelAdvisor were brought together under it in December 2023, so you'll still see all three names in retailer onboarding documents and vendor portals.
Yes, as part of Rithum. Several retailers still call their dropship program Dsco in vendor documents, including DSW.
No. Suppliers can use Rithum's portal or connect through an API or a file-based integration. EDI or a direct integration starts to make sense once order volume makes the portal impractical.
At least as often as the retailer requires, which is often daily. DSW, for example, requires a daily 846. More often is better if your system can do it, because the retailer's site sells whatever your last feed said was available.
The inventory feed dropship runs on, its quantity codes, and the mistakes that cause oversells.
Read the guideWhere major retailers keep their vendor portals and routing guides, and which run dropship through Dsco.
Open the directoryEvery X12 document an apparel brand is likely to see, what it does and who sends it.
See the listSee how fast stock is selling, weeks of supply, and what you need to sell each week to hit your target.
Open the calculatorWe map where your inventory truth actually lives, what it takes to publish it accurately, and whether your current systems can carry it. If your existing setup is fine, we'll say so.
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