Three out of every five parcels shipped in 13 major world markets is originating from China, and Amazon shipped more than 1.9 billion parcels in the U.S. alone in 2019, a 155% increase contributing to a five-year CAGR of 30%, according to Pitney Bowes’ annual parcel shipping index.
As ecommerce sales ramp up, especially heading into the holidays, merchants face growing pressure to deliver the perfect order. To meet customer expectations, you need to get the right product to the right customer at the right place and the right time. To do so, you need to establish meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs).
Issues with sizing and color conventions have probably been an issue since the invention of clothes. And with so much shopping now driven online by the pandemic, combined with generally liberal return policies, apparel returns have exploded. New technology solutions and industry standards are both working to solve the problem.
Picking errors have a very high cost to your ecommerce business in both actual costs and in lower customer satisfaction, lifetime value (CLV) and retention. These problems will erode your business’ profitability and damage the customer experience. We’ll help you identify the costs and share 6 ways to minimize picking errors.
Continuing a growing trend toward making ecommerce returns more convenient and safer for shoppers in the contactless pandemic era, Staples has struck a partnership with Optoro in which the office supply giant will accept unboxed returns from other retailers that will be processed by Optoro. More retailers will come online in January.
Unboxing has become kind of a big deal in retail and ecommerce. It not only elevates the customer experience with a “wow factor” but also serves as a promotional tool for brands as unboxing videos are shared so often on social media, and often go viral. This infographic from 2Flo lays out many of the key elements and benefits.
French robotics firm Exotec, which lists Japanese fast-fashion retailer Uniqlo as a major client, has raised $90 million to power its global growth in ecommerce fulfillment. Founded in 2015, Exotec is built on a goods-to-person model with its Skypod bots which uses laser guidance to navigate a fulfillment center.
Ocado, the UK grocery concern that has struck deals with grocers around the world to use its robotic fulfillment center technology, is being sued by AutoStore for intellectual property theft – with AutoStore in turn being investigated by Ocado for patent infringement. AutoStore filed the lawsuits in London and New York.
Amazon said 19,816 of its 1.4 million U.S. frontline workers tested positive for COVID-19 from March 1-Sept, 19, adding the figure is 42% below the general population rate of 33,952 based on data from Johns Hopkins. This runs counter to claims of protesters about widespread infection rates in Amazon’s facilities.
The harsh truth is that this holiday season will be a true test for retailers and brands – can they meet demand while exceeding high customer expectations? Those that can’t quickly adapt will lose out to fierce competition. Technology can help them scale up and optimize their fulfillment and delivery to win the 2020 holidays.