Articles
Retail
How to Beat Amazon at the Retail and Supply Chain Game in 2017
In a recent omni-channel benchmark study, Retail Systems Research identified the top three omni-channel technology investments for retailers in 2017: Distributed Order Management – 46% planning a change, 14% with net-new budgeted projects Enterprise Content Management – 42% planning a change, 17% with net-new budgeted projects Enterprise Wide Inventory Visibility – 37% planning a change, […]
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Getting the Goods on Logistics this Holiday Season
E-commerce continues to be the growth engine in retail with a 15-percent increase in 2016, according to U.S. Department of Commerce (Q2 2016 versus Q2 2015). Online shopping drives logistics growth as almost every e-commerce purchase needs to be delivered to the consumer’s home. This has resulted in increased investment and jobs in the retail […]
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Trends—November 2016
Consumers Demand Damage Control Shippers need to take steps to make sure packages arrive safely at their destinations this holiday season. Sixty-four percent of consumers have received a damaged package, according to State of Online Shopper Expectations and Actions, a recent survey by shipping services company OSM Worldwide. The study shows that 75 percent of […]
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What’s Driving the Air Freight Industry Today?
Last year in this space, I referenced research results published by SandlerResearch.org that predicted the worldwide air cargo logistics market will experience a 5.97% compounded annual growth rate from 2014 to 2019. Since we are nearing the middle of this period, let’s look at how things have changed and where industry growth stands in shipment […]
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How Supply Chain Strategies Impact
E-commerce Success
E-commerce has emerged as part of a company’s omni-channel marketing program. Achieving success requires not only an agile, lean supply chain, but also a strategy to get there. Many e-commerce companies sell a variety of products, and each type of product establishes different strategic needs. For example, functional products require lean and flexible network strategies, […]
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Why Retailers Need the TPP
In recent months, the acronym “TPP” has made international headlines, and has been a somewhat unexpected cause of dissension and acrimony among governments and citizens. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, more commonly known as TPP, is a trade agreement that aims to deepen economic ties among 12 countries along the Pacific Rim by reducing tariffs and stimulating […]
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Accurate Product Data Drives Supply Chain Systems
Retail and consumer goods organizations spend a lot of money to deploy supply chain applications that will help them operate more profitably while delivering the ideal experience to shoppers. But the fact is software investments do not deliver on their potential unless the data they’re using is accurate. Accurate product data comes from well-crafted, consistent […]
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Trends—October 2016
Response to ELD Mandate: Yours, Mine, and Hours The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) deadline for truckers to install Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) is nearly one year away, on Dec. 18, 2017. Small fleets, however, seem to be taking this mandate less seriously than their larger counterparts, according to a survey of 400 carriers […]
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Three Returns Strategies for Improving Omni-channel Retail
Omni-channel retail involves much more than efficient order fulfillment. An easy returns policy is just as important—so much so that it can be the deciding factor for a purchase. That said, it’s one thing to enact a favorable returns policy, and quite another to execute it efficiently. Thanks to omni-channel expectations, shoppers want the ability […]
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Global Logistics—September 2016
Cheat Sheets Wrinkle Target’s Supply Chain Target’s supply chain got a wakeup call when supplier Welspun Inc. allegedly provided a fraudulent product. The retailer recently ended its contract with the India-based textile company, claiming that Welspun supplied Egyptian cotton sheets made from a lower-quality cotton between August 2014 and July 2016. Target’s allegations drove Walmart, […]
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Using Tunnel Scanning to Meet
E-commerce Challenges
The recent increase in the number of consolidation warehouses operated by e-commerce companies that receive orders from many different suppliers in relatively small quantities creates challenges from an ID reading perspective. The small size of their typical order means that consolidation warehouses usually do not have the leverage over their suppliers that would enable them […]
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Retail Logistics: When Fast Isn’t Fast Enough
To keep customers happy, retailers play a daily game of beat the clock. For some retailers, smart supply chain management strategies and 3PL partnerships keep the orders flowing. For others, well…time may be up.
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Working at People Speed
Elon Musk describes the manufacturing operation for the new Tesla as so complex that no humans will participate in building the car. "You really can’t have people in the production line," says Musk. "Otherwise, you’ll automatically drop to people speed." Drop to people speed? Will supply chain impatience—a term I coined to define an inexorable […]
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GOOD QUESTION | Has supply chain impatience gotten out of hand?
Absolutely. While it is nice that consumers can get more things faster and cheaper than ever before, it puts tremendous pressure on retailers to keep profits up. Retailers start moving up sales for each season: back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It’s getting so bad that I predict the Christmas 2018 season will be […]
Read MorePrepping Your DC for Peak Season
Are you ready for the holidays? Today’s retailers and their logistics partners need to ask and answer that question well in advance of the holiday season. Mark Sibley, vice president of customer support for BEUMER Corporation, offers this advice to prepare your distribution center before holiday orders come rolling in. 1. Start early. Don’t start […]
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Multiple Channels Are Making Supply Chains More Complex
The global consumer packaged goods (CPG) logistics market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.98% from 2016 to 2020, according to a Research and Markets study entitled Global CPG Logistics Market 2016-2020. For CPG logistics providers who are looking for and finding new ways of helping customers get their products […]
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Global Retail Expansion: The Convergence of Marketing, Customer Service, and Supply Chain Strategies
As the global market becomes ever more connected, more and more retailers are struggling to keep up with their international expansion. Brands who never anticipated going global are finding that they all of a sudden are, thanks to the progression of e-commerce and increasing customer expectations. Wisely, this is where many are seeking assistance, and […]
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Meal Delivery Services: You’ve Got to be Kitting Me!
Meal kit delivery services are great for consumer convenience and health. But their supply chain complexity can cause plenty of heartburn.
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Balancing Inventory for a Better Customer Experience
Q: How is e-commerce impacting inventory management for retailers? A: Inventory is a costly investment for retailers. With the growth of e-commerce, retailers have identified a potential opportunity to reduce working capital by thinning inventory at brick-and-mortar stores—opting instead to maintain major portions of inventory at distribution centers upstream. By adopting this strategy, retailers are […]
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How to Be Fashionably Green
The retail industry’s tectonic shift toward sustainability is real, with a renewed focus on clothing made from raw, organic materials, and nontoxic dyes or bleaches, with low water usage, and produced under socially responsible conditions. Yet this shift is only part of the story of how the retail and fashion industry is becoming greener. Other […]
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