Brian Barry

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Brian Barry, president of F. Curtis Barry & Co., has 24 years’ experience consulting with clients on multichannel operations and systems projects. He started his career working on IT projects include developing client strategies for selection and implementation of ERP, OMS and WMS. Brian has worked with hundreds of clients on warehousing and supply chain operations. He helps them develop multi-DC strategies, including network planning and site location; apply automation and technology; reconfigure existing centers to increase capacity; process improvement; and customer service excellence. He also works with a network of 3PLs and service providers to help craft client solutions that deliver results within budget constraints.

12 Ways to Improve Peak Season Hiring for Ecommerce Fulfillment

| Brian Barry

For many companies, peak season hiring is an absolute necessity. The quality and the number of hourly workers can mean success or failure in fulfillment and for your company’s service level and profitability. In many businesses, hiring decisions are underway. These 12 considerations will help you succeed at this annual exercise.

13 Steps to Greater Ecommerce Fulfillment Efficiency

| Brian Barry

As Amazon gets stronger and competition rises, you need to continually find ways to reduce expenses and improve the customer experience. Drawn from hundreds of operations blogs we have written for Multichannel Merchant, here are 13 ways to make your fulfillment operations more efficient and improve performance.

Assessing Expansion of Your Ecommerce Fulfillment Network

| Brian Barry

Adding one or more facilities to your ecommerce fulfillment network can both reduce shipping costs and shrink your time-to-customer metric. But there are many aspects to this calculus: in-house assets vs. partnering, system requirements and labor/staffing, to name a few. Here are 11 factors to consider as you look to expand.

11 Ways to Get More from WMS Vendor Demonstrations

| Brian Barry

Vendor demos are at the heart of selecting the right warehouse management system (WMS) for your business. Being well prepared in advance makes all the difference in selecting the right WMS. Attention to detail upfront will save time for your users and the vendors. These 11 steps will help ensure a smooth demo process.

6 Considerations on Millennials in Your Ecommerce Fulfillment Workforce

| Brian Barry

Ecommerce fulfillment managers often grumble about the difficulty of hiring and managing millennials. For sure, they view life and work through a different lens. As a result, many businesses have struggled to find the best ways to integrate them into their culture. Here are 6 considerations to weigh when faced with these challenges.

ecommerce returns

12 Ways to Prepare for Peak Holiday Season Ecommerce Returns

| Brian Barry

Your planning for this year’s peak holiday season is well underway. One area that often gets less attention is ecommerce returns processing. If it’s inefficient it will hurt both profitability and the customer experience. Here are 12 ways to get your returns operations ready for the upcoming peak period in November and December.

Assessing California Prop 65 Impacts on Ecommerce, Catalog Content

| Brian Barry

On Aug. 30, amendments to California’s Prop 65 will require specific identification in all labeling and product descriptions – print and online – when items contain known carcinogens or can be toxic to reproductive health. Find out what these changes mean and how they will impact you if you sell to customers in California.

11 Ways to Improve Dock-to-Stock in Your Ecommerce Operations

| Brian Barry

“Dock-to-stock” is the battle cry of every receiving department, because every one of them faces the same pressure to meet daily service levels. A best practice for ecommerce companies is clearing the dock and staging areas in the same shift. Here are 11 ways you can improve your dock-to-stock performance.

warehouse interior blur feature

9 Benefits to a Software as a Service WMS

| Brian Barry

Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud-based computing has made Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) affordable for many small- and medium-sized companies. Here are 9 benefits to installing SaaS vs. on-premise based applications, and 4 downside risks to watch out for.

warehouse workers

Identifying the Right Market for Your Ecommerce Fulfillment Center

| Brian Barry

Identifying the right labor market for a new ecommerce fulfillment center is a major, expensive undertaking, and your success depends on performing a three-pronged analysis. Follow this outline of the data and process steps involved to help you identify the right labor market for your new facility.