Articles

Retail

Discovering Eight Truths of the New Era of Retail

Over the past 20 years many retailers have had the dream of entering the food retail business. The appeal is undeniable huge revenues, repeat business and in-store traffic. The fascination has resulted in a proliferation of food retail models ranging from dollar stores, off-price stores, convenience stores, drug stores, supermarkets, discount supermarkets, premium supermarkets, farmers […]

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Supply Chain Commentary: How Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods Will Disrupt Industrial Real Estate

Demand for warehouse space soared to a new high in 2016, leading to lower vacancies and higher rents. The upsurge shows no signs of abating. This isn’t surprising. It’s simply a marker of the ongoing transformation of the industrial real estate market that’s occurred over the past 10 years. During this period, the unrelenting expansion […]

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Supply Chain Commentary:
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 […]

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Report: Retailers are Hemorrhaging Costs from Premium Delivery Services

2017 brings unprecedented competition for retailers. Not only has Amazon set the standard for how to do retail well, it’s set the new consumer standard on shipping. Prime-like shopping is the new benchmark with Americans demanding ultimate convenience and immediacy at a low cost. Temando’s, a shipping and fulfillment software platform for commerce, 2017 State of […]

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John Costanzo

U.S./Canada Trade Remains Strong, With Plenty of Opportunity for Growth – Purolator

Q: What trends are you seeing in U.S./Canada cross-border trade? A: I see tremendous opportunity on both sides of the border. For one thing, imports from Canada are growing, largely due to the stable U.S. dollar. We seem to have turned the tide on the currency volatility of the past couple years, allowing Canadian manufacturers […]

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E-commerce Fulfillment Survey Finds Evidence of Retailer Growing Pains

Business is booming for e-commerce retailers according to a new global market study by Peoplevox, an e-commerce Warehouse Management System (WMS) provider. Peoplevox’s “The 2017 E-Commerce Fulfillment Report” found sales of 82% of the e-commerce and multichannel businesses taking part had increased in 2016, with only 6% reporting a decrease in orders. While many voiced […]

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Thinking Inside the Unbox

Consumers today judge businesses on many things beyond product performance. Unboxing, for example, is now part of a consumer’s everyday experience. That means daily opportunities for your brand to make a positive impression. Today, 68 percent of shoppers say they are more aware of packaging than they were five years ago, according to a Kantar […]

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Study Finds U.S. Retailers Lead the Way in International Expansion


The retail industry’s international expansion slowed a bit in 2016 from its strong pace of a year earlier as retailers adjusted to e-commerce and shifting exchange rates, according to CBRE Group Inc.’s 10th annual study of international retail expansion. The study found that retailers’ activity in entering new markets increased by 2 percent last year, […]

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Commentary: How to Compete with Amazon’s Lower Free Shipping Threshold

Amazon recently announced another slash to its free shipping requirements and is now down to $25. Amazon understands their data better than any retailer in the industry. The company is quite literally built on the ability to understand and take action on data, be that customer buying patterns, price optimization, or competitive information. This move […]

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