Articles
Retail Logistics
Automation: From Benefit to Necessity
Even prior to the pandemic, consumers were demanding. Since the rise of e-commerce, end users expect the ability to order what they want, when they want it, via the channels they want. Brands are adapting to this demand by offering curbside pickup, third-party delivery services, direct-from-social media purchasing, and a variety of other channels to cater to different consumer preferences.
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Turning the Tide on Turnover
The pandemic’s effect on inventory turnover was significant, but more recent data suggests that the situation may be improving for e-commerce brands.
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Logistics Technology: The Unsung Hero of Convenience Commerce
As consumers embraced online ordering during the pandemic, e-commerce sales ballooned from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020—a 43% jump—according to a recent Census Bureau retail survey. Although online sales have cooled since the initial pandemic-driven fervor, consumers continue to drive convenience commerce, with e-commerce sales increasing 6.7% in Q1 2022. More than 20% of consumer spending from January to March occurred online.
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How to Develop a Customer-centric Supply Chain
Supply chain variability creates hurdles to customer satisfaction. Prioritize the consumer experience by integrating flexible technologies and processes in your supply chain design.
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10 Tips: Matching Inventory To Demand
Demand is a constantly changing variable in any supply chain. Each time the demand tides change, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers must align inventory levels to meet customer expectations. Here are tips for doing it successfully.
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Pumpkin Spice Pandemonium
Pumpkin spice mania is a fall tradition in the United States. Here’s how seasonality blended with limited supplies jacks up demand.
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How Macy’s Avoids Inventory Glut
Retailers across the country are struggling with inventory pileup due to 2021’s massive supply chain delays. Unloading these previous-season goods has become a top priority for the upcoming holiday and winter season. But Macy’s is singing a different tune: the retailer managed to avoid most of this inventory glut, and reported to the Wall Street Journal that more than half of its offerings for the holiday season will be new.
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Anne Meyrose: Filling the Gap
Anne Meyrose is vice president, logistics control tower with Gap Inc., the apparel company behind the Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy brands.
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Are Bad Deliveries Ruining Your Last Mile? Here’s How to Flip the Script
While the chaos of supply chains has been tamed from its pandemic peak, new disruptions are being forecast and the holiday shopping season will only compound those issues.
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Last Mile Holiday Trends: Ho Ho Ho, Oh No?
Even though summer recently ended, it’s never too soon to think about the holiday shopping—and shipping—season in the retail and e-tail logistics world.
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White Glove Delivery Strategies and Techniques
When consumers were sent home to work, big and bulky e-commerce orders took off, along with white glove delivery expectations. The right combination of technology and strategy can help retailers meet them. Saying that e-commerce shipping has had an eventful two years would be an understatement. The pandemic accelerated the shift toward online retail by […]
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Are Labor Shortages Straining Your E-Commerce Business? Strengthen Operations with an Automated Returns Management System
These days, returns have become a non-negotiable standard part of the e-commerce experience for B2C and B2B customers alike and are a key factor for vendors looking to maintain customer satisfaction and increase loyalty. While they can be costly and laborious, successful returns processes can showcase customer service, achieve long-term consumer loyalty, and provide invaluable […]
Read More10 Tips: Optimizing E-Commerce Fulfillment Operations
E-commerce sales are projected to continue rising steadily. In this environment, it is more important than ever for retailers and brands to fill orders quickly, seamlessly, and cost-effectively. Here’s how your fulfillment operations can optimize performance.
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Vertical Focus: Footwear
China SC Woes Have Footwear Industry Tied In Knots The impact on the supply chain from lockdowns in China was a major themefor footwear retailers in the first half of 2022. Largely reporting lower-than-expected earnings, many major footwear brands pointed a finger at the lockdowns to explain their disappointing performance levels. Strict and extended COVID-19 […]
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Vertical Focus: Exercise Equipment
Planet Fitness is one fitness club company that has thrived in recent years, growing from 918 locations in 2014 to more than 2,200 in 2021. FISCAL Fitness Here’s a sampling of statistics about the fitness equipment industry, compiled by RunRepeat and other sources, that helps to illustrate its status today. The fitness equipment industry is […]
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How can retailers compete with the logistics dominance of the e-commerce behemoths?
Don’t view this as a competition with e-commerce behemoths, but as another sales channel in your omnichannel strategy. Treat it as such and develop your strategy to provide differentiation on customer service and trust to be able to drive direct sales, while still leveraging other channels to build brand awareness. —Scott Hebert CEO SYSPRO USA […]
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How to Ensure Delight in the Grocery Aisle
Fulfilling customer needs and maintaining their ongoing satisfaction remains a critical priority. Disappointing a customer doesn’t sit well with a retailer or store associate, and that sense of frustration is something retailers should be working to prevent, starting with the following strategic supply chain enhancements. Improve demand forecasting to reduce unwelcome surprises. Typical seasonal products, […]
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Deploying an End-to-End Solution for a Manufacturer’s Product Launch
Faced with a considerable supply chain challenge—a large-scale product launch—a manufacturer turned to Hub Group for a holistic, end-to-end approach, from drayage to fulfillment, that also enables expansion.
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Finding a Home for Holiday Returns
Record retail sales, including a growing share of online purchases (see chart), mean that more returns than ever are flooding warehouses. U.S. holiday retail sales were up 8.5% compared to 2020, says data from Mastercard, and 66% of consumers will likely return at least one gift. At 18%, the e-commerce return rate is almost twice […]
Read MoreWhat’s The Word? The Language of Logistics
Upstream vs. Downstream Some organizations divide the supply chain into two parts to simplify management: upstream and downstream. The upstream supply chain includes all activities related to the organization’s suppliers, which source raw material inputs to send to the manufacturer. The downstream supply chain refers to activities post-manufacturing, namely distributing the product to the final […]
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