To minimize the impact of the great holiday shortage of 2021, retailers need to leverage innovative technologies and their insights to help navigate supply chain disruptions and reduce the risk of driving customers away now and into 2022. Here are some critical ways technology can help mitigate the pain of out of stocks.
Fabric, maker of automated systems for on-demand micro fulfillment in urban settings, has raised a fresh $200 million, bringing its valuation above the vaunted $1 billion mark as it looks to expand to new markets beyond its current operations in Washington, DC, New York and its launch site of Tel Aviv.
Given massive, lingering supply chain roadblocks, carrier capacity limits and labor shortages, inventory management has gotten trickier for retailers, especially as the critical Q4 approaches. This special report from Multichannel Merchant looks at ways retailers are rethinking their inventory approach to buffer against shocks.
Truck leasing, logistics and fleet management provider Ryder has made an investment in Gatik, whose technology will power autonomous middle mile deliveries for retail and ecommerce clients in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, initially equipping 20 leased Ryder box trucks for the purpose.
Supply chain delays, ongoing carrier issues and expectations of late deliveries or out of stocks has driven a record number of U.S. consumers to begin holiday shopping earlier than ever, with 52% of them in an Oracle Retail survey saying they’ve already begun to do so. Major retailers like Target and Best Buy have kicked off promotions.
Regional carrier LaserShip is acquiring competitor OnTrac for $1.3 billion deal, in one fell swoop changing the equation in last-mile parcel delivery by giving the combined entity coverage of three-quarters of the continental U.S. as ecommerce demand continues to soar.
Canadian fulfillment means purchasing large shipments overseas, then importing them to Canada, where they’re held by a third party until you receive an order and they ship it out. While it seems like a rather roundabout way of doing business, there’s a reason it’s becoming increasingly popular among U.S. businesses: It saves you money.
In calculating ecommerce fulfillment cost per order, labor generally makes up more than 50% of the total. As labor costs continue to increase, overall fulfillment center productivity in many companies has remained flat. What are you doing to manage your labor and reduce costs? Here are five tactics companies should consider.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has decided to temporarily suspend a planned reduction in service level standards for First Class package delivery until after the peak holiday season, a week after the Postal Regulatory Commission which oversees it said the plan “lacked demonstrable evidence.”
Home Depot has signed on as the first retail customer of Walmart’s new service, GoLocal, with Walmart providing same-day and next-day delivery in select stores in Texas, New Mexico and Northwest Arkansas in the coming weeks, expanding thereafter.