In the weeks after the holidays, many retailers simply resign themselves to sluggish traffic and anemic sales totals. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Although you may not be able to replicate the fever pitch of the holiday shopping season, with the right strategy in customization, fulfillment, customer service, and discounts, you can stimulate retail activity and avoid the post-holiday blues.
Amazon has turned to an unusual source of seasonal hires to fulfill orders this holiday season: hundreds of workers who call RV campers their homes in Kentucky, Kansas and Nevada.
With the addition of three new distribution centers in California, Atlanta, and Ohio, Home Depot announced plans on Dec. 11 to develop same-day shipping capabilities.
The more time and energy you invest in planning your holiday shipping and fulfillment strategy, the more effective your brand will be in delivering the type of customer experience that will keep shoppers coming back in 2014. While it’s too late to effectively change your retail agenda through the end of the year, here is a list things you can focus on from now through Christmas.
U.S. based footwear merchant Skechers announced that it is planning a major investment and technology upgrade to its European distribution center in Belgium. These investments will improve performance and prepare the facility for a future expansion.
Beauty retailer Sephora is expected to open a new 655,800 square foot distribution center in Perryman, MD, just outside of Baltimore by May 2014.
Ingram Micro announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which it will acquire global fulfillment service provider Shipwire. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Integrated Distribution Services’ need for additional warehouse space is attributed to its continued growth in order fulfillment for the ecommerce, retail and direct selling markets. The new facility will provide IDS with 100,000+ square feet of warehouse space, in addition to its current 350,000+ square foot facility.
In anticipation of the upcoming holiday shopping season, Kohl’s announced that it will hire 50,000 seasonal employees nationally in various in-store, distribution center, and customer service positions.
Fulfilling orders is no longer about putting SKUs in a box and shipping products off to the consumer. Merchants are finding that order fulfillment is now a multifaceted operation which includes moving product, creating brand engagement, offering high quality customer service, and creating a lifetime customer. Here are 15 tactics you can use right now on how to delight customers from the warehouse floor up to the box is opened by the consumer.