Articles
Retail Logistics
The Perfect Amount of Packaging
Sustainable packaging helps shippers’ bottom line and brand as well as being easier on the environment.
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U.S. Online Shoppers Click With International Retailers
Nearly half of avid U.S. online shoppers bought items from international retailers, demonstrating the need for retailers to offer more personalized services as a way to compete against lower prices, according to UPS’ sixth annual Pulse of the Online Shopper study. Almost all avid U.S. online shoppers (97 percent), made purchases on marketplaces, up 12 […]
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Retailers Struggle to Control Fulfillment Costs
Walmart’s recent announcement that it is testing a delivery system where its associates will deliver online orders to customers’ doors makes sense in light of a new study by Radial, in partnership with EKN Research, which finds the average cost for a company to fulfill an order is 70 percent of the average order value. […]
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Amazon Files Patent To Parachute Packages
Amazon teased consumers with drone delivery during a 2017 Super Bowl commercial, though the ad bore a disclaimer: "Prime Air is not available in some states (or any really). Yet." Back in December 2016, Amazon made its first successful customer delivery in a trial area in the United Kingdom; in March 2017, the online retail […]
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How Walmart’s OTIF Policy Creates New Baselines for Suppliers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. caught many shipping companies off guard when it released its new “On-Time In-Full” (OTIF) policy. This program mandates that if any shipment arrives early, late, or on-time but not packaged properly, the shipper will be charged 3 percent of the total items’ value. It was only a few months ago that Walmart […]
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Supply Chain Commentary: Customer Loyalty Hinges on Quality of Product Information
Knowledge is power, and today, consumers are demanding to know more about products they buy before making a purchasing decision. The internet and online shopping have helped fuel their appetites for more product details, driving big changes across all industries. In the food industry, for example, new legislation like the GMO labeling law and Nutrition […]
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Supply Chain Commentary: Get Ready for a Shortened Path to Purchase
Google quietly introduced the beta version of Purchases on Google in the middle of May 2017 to users in the United States. The feature allows users to click a ‘Buy on Google’ call-to-action on product ads within the search engine results page and directs them to a purchasing page created and hosted by Google. Right […]
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Consumers: No Patience For Supply Chain Fails
Seventy-eight percent of consumers want to receive updates on the status of their orders when purchasing goods, and they won’t hesitate to switch brands if supply chain performance fails to meet their expectations, according to a global survey conducted by YouGov and sponsored by Infor, a provider of industry-specific cloud applications. The survey polled 6,285 […]
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The Battle of Retail Titans
Technology is ever-changing and recently, has been advancing at an extraordinary rate and providing accessible capital with highly valued stock prices. These prices are enabling acquisitions that have the ability to change the competitive landscape overnight. Exhibit A: Amazon’s deal with Whole Foods Market. Many recent acquisitions can be attributed to companies with aggressive growth […]
Read MoreAmazon’s Prime Day: Primetime for Online Retailers to Get Logistics Lessons
Did Hallmark invent Valentine’s Day? Not quite, but it certainly helped. Did Amazon create a new shopping event with Prime Day? You bet! We’re all used to Black Friday, then we got Cyber Monday and now it looks like Prime Day is set to be another date in the shopping frenzy calendar. In 2016, it […]
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