Major League Baseball may take a step back from its e-commerce operation in order to boost profits, The Post has learned.
Under consideration is a move to completely outsource its MLB.com shop, sources said.
MLB currently operates the e-commerce sites for all 30 teams — including inventory and pricing — and uses a third party, Fanatics Inc., to ship the jerseys, caps and other items sold on the sites.
But baseball brass are weighing a move to have Fanatics largely run the operation, three sources close to the situation said.
If it outsourced the operation to Fanatics, MLB would be relieved of inventory and pricing headaches — while gaining access to a fatter profit stream from MLB sales on the Fanatics site.
“Right now, MLB makes no money from baseball-related sales by Fanatics,” a source said.
Both MLB and Fanatics buy the same jerseys and sell them on their sites.
The hope is that the added revenue from a new contract signed with Fanatics, if that’s the path chosen by MLB, would more than offset the profit margins of as much as 20 percent it gets from the $100 million a year it rings up now by running MLB.com itself, sources added.
MLB has run its e-commerce site since 2001.
Fanatics currently operates the e-commerce businesses for the NFL, the NBA and the NHL.
The MLB’s possible move shows the increased power e-commerce retailers presently wield when competing with league sites.
“Fanatics takes a New York sports fan and, while selling them a football jersey, has the ability to cross-sell them a baseball jersey,” a source noted.
That’s an advantage a single league doesn’t have.
In June, Fanatics completed a $170 million funding round giving it a $3.1 billion valuation.
Backers of the sports merchandise retailer include Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Venture Partners and Alibaba Group.
However while MLB has decided its current e-commerce set-up is no longer feasible, it has not yet decided what changes are best, sources said.
One option for MLB is to keep running its site while choosing a new shipper, sources said.
MLB is speaking to Demandware, which does not compete with them, about replacing Fanatics, a source said.
Fanatics could be a thorn in MLB’s side by competing with its partner on price.
“Fanatics has undercut prices being a loss leader,” a source said. A tour of the Fanatics and MLB.com sites does show several items priced lower on Fanatics.
Both MLB.com and Fanatics declined comment.