Articles
E-commerce

How Omni-Channel Commerce Is Changing Traditional Supply Chains
With the introduction of online (e) and mobile (m) commerce, consumers are now more comfortable than ever making purchases from any place, at any time, on virtually any device. This shift in consumer behavior has changed how goods and products flow through the supply chain to the end user. As a result, supply chain partners […]
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Site Selection & E-Commerce: Tapping Regional Excellence
When choosing new sites to locate fulfillment facilities, retailers opt in for e-commerce excellence and proximity to large population centers.
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Popping the Cork on Outsourced Logistics
To get its innovative wine access system to market, Coravin raises a glass to its third-party logistics provider..
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Searching For the New Perfect Order
The growth of omni-channel retailing has driven a shift in what constitutes the “perfect order” — from a traditional, sequentially linear design to an exponentially more complex, interconnected model. It’s a shift driven by customer demand that requires the retailer to manage orders, shipments, payments, and returns within the retailing organization and across a vast […]
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Clothes Encounters: The Logistics of a Revolving Closet
With its subscription-based clothing rental model, Gwynnie Bee is tailoring the rules of e-commerce to make fashion fulfillment a perfect fit.
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The Luxury of Logistics Excellence
To expand its footprint in the luxury accessories market, Royce Leather indulged in a solution that connects it to new customers and streamlines fulfillment. That’s how Royce rolls.
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Service With A Demand-driven Smile
What does it mean for retailers to deliver exceptional customer service? Is it matching expectations? Cost-competitive pricing? Dependability? Options? Most consumers expect "all of the above" and then some from their retailers and e-tailers. Demand expectations are also hyper-sensitized because consumers are faced with infinite choices. SKU proliferation extends beyond the store shelf. However demand […]
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Trends—October 2014
UPS, Christmas 2014: ‘Fixed It!’ After the 2013 peak holiday season, e-commerce shoppers took to the phones and social media to tell e-tailers, and, ultimately express transportation companies, how they ruined Christmas. As it turns out, Santa actually drives a big brown truck, and he failed to get a substantial number of gifts under the […]
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Global Logistics—October 2014
Game of Drones In the latest installment of the drone saga, German logistics company DHL is using a "parcelcopter" to make deliveries to the North Sea island of Juist, home to around 1,700 people. The company claims this is the first instance of unmanned aircraft transporting parcels in Europe. Joining the ranks of Amazon and […]
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Global Logistics—September 2014
Eruption Disruption: What’s Your Plan? It’s déjà vu all over again. The bubbling Bardarbunga volcano compelled Iceland authorities to raise their aviation warning to orange—the second-highest level—as the possibility for another widespread ash cloud grows more likely. It was a little more than four years ago when an ash cloud from the island’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano […]
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The New Retail: Three Legs to Stand On
Did you ever read a magazine or newspaper article and get the feeling that something was missing? It happened to me when I read several business press articles touting e-commerce as the savior of retailers. That "something’s missing" feeling bothered me as I read various vague descriptions of how e-commerce is the driving force behind […]
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Trends—August 2014
Speed Reading: The Same-Day Book Delivery Race is On Amazon had no sooner expanded same-day delivery for select products in six new cities—Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.—than Google and Barnes & Noble teamed up to deliver books with similar speed. Using Google Shopping Express, bibliophiles in the Big Apple, west Los […]
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Global Logistics—August 2014
European Ports Stuffed with Congestion A summer labor shortage and longer processing time for larger ships is creating congestion around European port cities and forcing ocean carriers to levy surcharges on tardy shippers. Europe’s top ports — Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg — are among several cities dealing with congestion issues. Europe is constrained by space, […]
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New Retail Strategies: It’s a Store! It’s a Site! It’s a Warehouse!
E-commerce vendors and traditional merchants stake their claims in an evolving landscape.
Read MoreDiving Into Multi-Channel Fulfillment
KaiKini Bikinis’ integrated inventory control and shipping operations solution brings savings that are anything but itsy bitsy teeny weeny.
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3PL e-Volution Continues
While the editor of Inbound Logistics is content to use her column to take you on an archeological journey through 3PL history, I prefer to take you on a trip forward. We all know Amazon and eBay as e-commerce titans that match millions of customers with the products they demand, when they want them. Both […]
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Bruce Kulp Scores Big
Bruce Kulp is senior vice president, supply chain and refurbishment, at video gaming and consumer electronics retailer Game Stop, in Grapevine, Texas. He has held this position since 2010. Responsibilities: Procurement, distribution, store allocation, transportation and logistics, refurbishment, materials management, research and development. Experience: Vice president of distribution, vice president of logistics, Electronic Data Systems […]
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Global Logistics—July 2014
On the Scene at CeMAT 2014 For more than 53,000 warehouse and manufacturing facility operators and equipment buyers, CeMAT 2014 was the ultimate shopping expedition. At the biennial event—held in Hannover, Germany, from May 19 to 23, 2014—1,025 exhibitors showed off 4,000 state-of-the-art warehousing, packaging, and inventory management solutions. Occupying 1.3 million square feet of […]
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The Mechanics of 3PL Partnerships
How do you keep a shipper-3PL relationship running smoothly? Learn the tools of the trade.
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Optimizing the Fashion Supply Chain
The debate in fashion over inventory as an asset or a liability may never see an end. Only a few years ago, the CEO of one the largest fashion retailers in the United States said, “I’d rather lose sales than carry (risky) inventory.” What an incredible statement. The head of a major retailer willing to […]
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