4 Strategies for Accelerating Ecommerce Order Fulfillment

| Derek Rickard

Keeping up with rising customer expectations is challenging, both when shipping to stores and DTC. With customer satisfaction and loyalty on the line, many are looking for ways to accelerate ecommerce order fulfillment. If you’re in a similar struggle with “the need for speed,” here are four strategies that can help.

Peapod Shuts Down Midwest Operation to Focus on East Coast

| Mike O'Brien

Ahold Delhaize USA said it plans to close the Midwest division of its Peapod online grocery delivery business to focus on expanding operations in the more lucrative East Coast, where most of its stores are located. Dutch-based Ahold said the Midwest operation of Peapod represented $97 million of the $1.1 billion in online sales in the U.S.

Calculating Your True Ecommerce Fulfillment Cost Per Order

| Brian Barry

Ecommerce fulfillment cost per order (CPO) is the sum of all the warehousing expenses involved in receiving, put away and storage of product, picking, packing and shipping and reverse logistics or returns processing from customers. But do you know your fully loaded CPO? This calculation process will help you generate a true number.

6 Things to Consider When Designing an On-Demand Warehouse

| Chris Baxter

As the worldwide ecommerce market continues to grow, so does the need for additional fulfillment center space.
That’s where an on-demand warehouse comes in. Whether or not you’re using all the space of a warehouse you already own, or thinking about investing in one to rent out, here are some guiding design principles.

AMS Acquires EchoData, Expands Same-Day, Two-Day Fulfillment

| Mike O'Brien

Third-party logistics (3PL) provider AMS has acquired EchoData Group, a provider of omnichannel fulfillment services. The acquisition gives AMS greater ability to serve customers with same-day delivery in major population centers on both coasts, and adds two-day delivery coverage to 90% of the U.S. population.

7 Steps to Analyze Your Peak Holiday Season Ecommerce Operations

| Brian Barry

Many ecommerce businesses realize 60% to 70% of their profits in the fourth quarter. For multichannel businesses and wholesalers, their peak season starts months earlier to supply retail and ecommerce. Take the time now to analyze your fulfillment successes and failures and develop an improvement plan for this Q4 using these 7 steps.

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Grocery Sector Outpaces Ecommerce in Major Warehouse Lease Deals

| Mike O'Brien

Fueled by continued growth in e-grocery and the sector overall, food and beverage saw more growth in terms of major warehouse leases in 2019 than did ecommerce, which slipped a bit, according to a report from CBRE on the 100 largest deals. The number of 3PL deals stayed the same, while the square footage dropped from 2018.

GlobalTranz Acquires Cerasis, 11th Acquisition in Three Years

| Mike O'Brien

3PL GlobalTranz Enterprises has acquired Cerasis, a provider of managed transportation and third-party multimodal logistics services, marking its 11th acquisition since January 2017. Cerasis has a managed transportation client base that uses its 3PL/4PL service offerings and technology solutions, including TMS.

XPO Explores Sale or Spinoff of Up to 4 Business Units, Just Not LTL

| Mike O'Brien

Saying the market hasn’t been rewarding the company as it should, the board of XPO Logistics said the company was exploring strategic options including the sale or spinoff of up to four business units, which would not include its less-than-truckload shipping business. It has retained Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan as financial advisors.

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Improving Picking Operations in Your Ecommerce Fulfillment Center

| Brian Barry

Order picking is one of the most important functions in the ecommerce fulfillment center. The customer experience can be a good or bad one based on accuracy and timeliness. Assess your operations to determine how and at what cost changes can be made to processes, technology and automation.