Mike O'Brien
Mike O’Brien has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for … well, quite a while. At Multichannel Merchant he focuses on the world of direct-to-customer operations and fulfillment, editing MCM’s weekly O+F Advisor newsletter, and programs the annual Ecommerce Operations Summit conference. Previously Mike was a senior account executive for Marx Communications, a boutique public relations firm working with marketing and advertising technology companies. Other past work includes stints as a media relations consultant for a concert promoter, a marketing communications specialist for a pharma software firm, a research analyst covering corporate e-learning and a daily newspaper reporter on every beat imaginable – except sports.
The USPS is proposing a number of rate changes that would be effective on Jan. 27 including an average 9.3% increase in its Parcel Select service for packages weighing more than 1 lb., as it looks to recover rising costs and deals with stiff competition from major carriers.
DSW and Authentic Brands Group plan to jointly acquire different pieces of the Camuto Group, which owns the rights to footwear brands including Vince Camuto, Jessica Simpson and Lucky Brand, for a total of $375 million, the companies announced.
Given all the emphasis on the potential for voice assistants in commerce, it was inevitable that the capability would come to the ecommerce fulfillment center, and ShippingEasy has done so with a new Alexa skill that integrates with its shipping software.
While the majority of UPS workers represented by the Teamsters union voted against a new contract, negotiations will continue as turnout was low and the no votes didn’t meet the threshold for killing the deal.
In the continuing saga of strange bedfellows teaming up to combat the threat of Amazon, a Kroger/Walgreens pilot in northern Kentucky outside Cincinnati allows shoppers to pick up Kroger orders at 13 select Walgreens and purchase Kroger products while there.
As of Oct. 1, 10 states added a requirement for remote sellers to begin collecting tax online sales tax in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Wayfair ruling in June, and many merchants are finding it difficult to comply. See what an advocacy group is doing, when states are enacting laws and what litigation is pending.
Toys R Us, the on-again, off-again toy retailer, is looking for another reboot, less than four months after closing its remaining stores, according to investors that acquired its assets out of bankruptcy court.
Less than a week after a PR backlash over reporting on warehouse worker raises ahead of peak season in the range of 35 cents to 50 cents, Amazon put out the fire by announcing an across-the-board $15 per hour minimum wage for its fulfillment center associates, starting Nov. 1.
As it battles back against numerous media reports of working conditions in its fulfillment and sortation centers, Amazon has a new PR battle on its hands – a report that it has given workers raises of just 25 to 55 cents an hour, according to the Washington Post.
Gap Inc. turned a disastrous event – a devastating August 2016 fire at its distribution center in Fishkill, NY – into an opportunity to improve its overall supply chain operations, an executive told attendees at Parcel Forum in Chicago.