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.
After raising the profile of its line extensions during Prime Day 2015, Proactiv hopes to move some of its best-selling product during this year’s faux sales holiday. Now with over a year of operating history on the Amazon marketplace, the company has become more adept at managing the channel and avoiding conflict with its primarily direct marketing approach.
For the second year in a row, Bath & Body Works won the award for best packaging in Multichannel Merchant’s Excellence in Customer Experience Awards. See how the company excels in this category, and learn some tips you can apply to your business.
Following a pilot program at eight locations in Chicago begun last year, UPS is expanding its self-serve pickup lockers to 300 locations in five states by the end of the year, with lockers in eight additional states planned in 2017. UPS sees this as a way to increase consumer choice, provide value to retail customers and drive network optimization through increasing delivery density.
UPS executives said they will continue to place a $1 billion bet on new technology each year, including major investments in facility automation, robotics and even drones to conduct tasks such as aircraft inspections and inventory counts. See what else the company disclosed about its strategy and operations during media day at its Atlanta headquarters.
Smaller merchants doing business in Canada are getting product out the door and setting up contingencies in anticipation of a possible Canada Post strike. See what options are available, and what impact the work stoppage could have.
In 2016, more than 15% of Chinese residents will make online purchases from offshore sellers worth $85.76 billion, according to a new report from eMarketer. By 2020, more than a quarter of the population, representing half of all digital buyers, will be doing so, the company reported.
Amazon announced another expansion of its Amazon Dash Button program, adding more than 50 new brands and increasing the total to more than 150. With the program, Amazon is bringing a growing assortment of popular consumer packaged goods sold at its marketplace into the realm of simplified, push button fulfillment gratification.
FedEx’s continued focus on ecommerce growth, reflected in its capital spending and recent spate of acquisitions, paid dividends in fiscal 2016, especially the 20% growth in ground revenue. Walmart’s recent addition of a subscription service in response to Amazon Prime, partially served by regional carriers, is not a concern, company executives said.
Omnichannel commerce and all its permutations are causing direct-to-customer companies to seek new solutions and approaches to inventory management in order to tame increasingly complex order and fulfillment patterns while meeting rising customer demands. In this MCM report, learn how things like distributed order management and inventory visibility solutions can help you avoid the pitfalls and cut down on overstocks, out-of-stocks and returns.
As Kickstarter-funded premium underwear provider Comfortable Club starting expanding its sales channels to include Amazon as a marketplace seller as well as using its Fulfillment by Amazon service, inventory management and visibility across channels started to become a serious issue. Click here to find out how Stitch Labs made Comfortable Club’s underwear inventory more visible.