Today, merchants need to adopt every best practice to reduce costs and provide higher levels of service. Only one conference focuses exclusively on optimizing direct-to-customer and omnichannel operations and fulfillment: Ecommerce Operations Summit, April 9-11, 2019 in Columbus, OH. Here are 6 great benefits of attending.
Target is expanding its same-day delivery service via acquired unit Shipt, opening it up to all major categories of product in 2019 and continuing its efforts to keep customers from fleeing to Amazon Prime, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
FedEx has created a new program to address demand for faster fulfillment of online orders by offering later pickup. Extra Hours lets retailers expand their pickup cutoff by up to eight hours to more easily offer next-day local delivery or two-day delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. via FedEx Express.
Retailers lowered the bar for Christmas season fulfillment, then easily cleared it, according to Kurt Salmon. Ninety-three percent of retailers tracked were able to process and deliver customer orders by the last guaranteed delivery date. But 33% of them ditched their last order promise date as Christmas approached.
The big three domestic parcel carriers – UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service – continued to perform admirably in the midst of the torrent of holiday peak season packages, delivering ecommerce orders on time at a rate of 97% or higher, according to data from Shipmatrix.
Less than three weeks before the new prices take effect the day after Christmas, UPS announced its 2019 rate schedule, including an overall increase of 4.9% for its ground, air and international services, leaving shippers scrambling to adapt at the busiest time of year. See what charges went up and what it means.
A report from President Trump’s task force on proposed changes to the U.S. Postal Service recommends giving the USPS the ability to establish more market-based pricing for its mail and parcel services, which have not been set “with profitability in mind.”
Instacart, the same-day grocery delivery company used by many grocers, is dealing with customer ire as freelance shoppers fulfilling the orders are passing up some jobs due to a change in the pricing structures. Also a number of shoppers have taken to Twitter to call for a boycott of the service due to a drop in their wages.
In late 2013, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boldly proclaimed on the popular CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” that drones would be delivering orders for its customers within five years. But apparently, the future isn’t now according to a report in the Seattle Times.
Given all the attention paid to buy online pickup in store including its popularity with shoppers, only 28% of U.S. retailers currently offer the service, compared to 64% of British retailers providing its cousin, click and collect, according to a report from OrderDynamics. Retailers here were also found lagging in other categories.