In-Home Delivery Operations Must Become More Consumer Driven

| Manog Tseung

Buyers used to ask retailers when their item could be delivered. Now, they want to choose the in-home delivery time and track it online. That’s a somewhat new and difficult expectation for brands to meet. The good news is that sophisticated truck routing solutions are available to help merchants better manage in-home home delivery.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Dealing with Front-to-Back Risk Factors in Ecommerce Operations

| Mike O'Brien

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, we talk to Robyn Meyer, partner, enterprise solutions at Transportation Insight, about challenges and opportunities in this disruptive environment, as well as some strategy, process and system changes companies can make to improve profitability and performance.

Roadie Partners with Delta Cargo for Same-Day Delivery Across the Country

| Mike O'Brien

On-the-way delivery app Roadie has partnered with Delta Cargo to enable the first cross-country, same-day delivery service for critical items such as medical devices and machine parts using air cargo and last-mile drivers in tandem. While critical-need items are the most natural use case, ecommerce deliveries are not far behind.

Same-Day Delivery Service Dolly Raises $7.5M in New Funding

| Mike O'Brien

Same-day delivery services startup Dolly has raised $7.5 million in new capital to fund expansion and increase its operational and technical teams, raising its venture funding total to $20 million. An Amazon executive is one of the new investors. Dolly plans to expand to 15-20 new markets this year and uses independent contractors.

Innovate in Oversized Delivery to Compete with Amazon

| Van Leigh

The “Amazon Effect” notwithstanding, there is one area of ecommerce where online sellers can still compete with, maybe even beat, Amazon and others: Oversized delivery. Learn what steps you can take to exceed customer expectations in the last mile and become a leader in bulky, oversized fulfillment.

Smart Lock for Home Deliveries Targets Porch Piracy

| Mike O'Brien

BoxLock, a smart lock startup, is aiming to address the growing problem of porch piracy by securing ecommerce deliveries through barcode scanning by parcel carriers. It went live on Prime Day and is exclusive to Prime members but that’s bound to change as the solution catches on.

Nordstrom, Costco, UPS Join Last-Mile Delivery Study in Seattle

| Mike O'Brien

Nordstrom, Costco and UPS have joined with a team from the University of Washington in Seattle to study solutions to last-mile delivery issues in urban areas. See what the group is charged with doing, and learn more on this topic in a session at Operations Summit 2017, March 27-29 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Amazon Doesn’t Need to Own Ecommerce Delivery

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon doesn’t need to take over the last mile of ecommerce delivery, but it does need to reduce its massive shipping cost burden in order to maintain its recent run of profitability, which is the logic behind its recent logistics moves.