Stamford-based Pitney Bowes Inc. PBI recently announced the selection of Apigee Corp. APIC, a provider of application programmable interface (“API”), for improving its API management.Apigee has garnered a solid reputation among clients for securely and quickly managing large-scale APIs. Pitney Bowes selected the company’s flagship Apigee Edge API management software to offer new services like location intelligence, shipping and financial. Moreover, Pitney Bowes is deploying Apigee’s API management software that will help both the companies and third-party developers foster innovative offerings.Pitney Bowes adopted a multi-year corporate transformation program that aims to augment revenue growth through the expansion of footprint in digital businesses, especially software and ecommerce services. Moreover, the company is striving to reduce its operational costs as well as digitize mailing and shipping business to bolster efficiency. Pitney Bowes believes that the world of commerce is undergoing striking changes that have distorted the distinction between physical and virtual commerce.Such an environment necessitates the delivery of accurate results and Pitney Bowes believes Apigee’s technology will equip it better for unlocking other sources of revenues. Leveraging on the competence of the API platform, Pitney Bowes will be able to help its internal and external developers to come up with new data-powered digital solutions.Meanwhile, the exponential growth at the API platform, which urges business enterprises to ditch their legacy applications for modern technology, signals bright prospects for Pitney Bowes. A recently published report by Research and Markets suggests that API, as a service market, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 30.1% during the period 2016-2020 as an increasing number of business organizations choose to exercise better control over the product development processes.Despite strategic product launches and restructuring initiatives, Pitney Bowes’ software business is fraught with macro issues that are adding to its woes. Also, marketing expenses is expected to be highest in the first and fourth quarters of 2016 owing to advertising campaigns, which in turn can impact financials in the near term. Moreover, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar is particularly proving to be a drag on the Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company’s e-commerce business.Some better-ranked stocks in the broader consumer goods space include Lexmark International Inc. LXK and Johnson Outdoors Inc. JOUT. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JOHNSON OUTDOOR (JOUT): Free Stock Analysis Report LEXMARK INTL (LXK): Free Stock Analysis Report PITNEY BOWES IN (PBI): Free Stock Analysis Report APIGEE CORP (APIC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research