Walmart Expands Prime-Like Grocery Delivery Program Nationwide

| Mike O'Brien

Walmart’s answer to Amazon Prime on the grocery side, Delivery Unlimited, is expanding nationwide, the company said, reaching 1,400 U.S. stores now and 1,600 by the end of the year. The program had been piloted in Houston, Miami, Salt Lake City and Tampa, and will now be in all 200 markets where grocery delivery is available.

speed to customer delivery guy feature

6 Shipping and Mailing Tricks to Save You Money

| Mike O'Brien

Small merchants can transform their shipping and mailing operations into an asset rather than a nuisance and cost center. A focus on quick wins that add up over time can fatten your profit margins while delivering increasingly better customer experiences. Learn how refining your strategy can lead to business improvement.

Prologis warehouse

Amazon, Home Depot Leasing Space in Three-Story Warehouse in Seattle

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon and Home Depot will become tenants of a new state-of-the-art, three-story warehouse and fulfillment center in Seattle from logistics giant Prologis, part of the huge push to fulfill ecommerce within a day in major urban markets, according to the Wall Street Journal. Three other such buildings are going up in New York City.

Package Lockers See Strong Adoption in Europe and Asia

| Daniela Forte

While automated package lockers are being used by some major retailers here, they’ve seen greater adoption in other countries, having solved space and retail delivery issues for several years. Here is a look at how they’re being used in some European countries and Japan as a last-mile solution for retailers and a convenience for consumers.

9 Steps to Develop, Implement a Vendor Compliance Program

| Brian Barry

Vendor compliance is achieved when a merchandise vendor shipping a retailer’s purchase order satisfies the retailer’s requirements, typically specified as a condition of the retailer-vendor relationship and the purchase order negotiated by the retailer. Here are 9 tips to help you develop a successful vendor compliance program.

parcel shipping delivery scan

Uncertainty the Watchword Heading Into UPU Congress

| Mike O'Brien

With a showdown looming over international postal rates at a Sept. 24 congress of the Universal Postal Union, uncertainty reigns in terms of the United States’ continued participation in the organization, leaving merchants wondering about parcel shipping rates heading into peak season. Consolidators are making contingency plans.

e-grocery fruit order

Amazon, Walmart Will Dominate E-Grocery Food Sales Through 2024

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon and Walmart will continue to slug it out atop the world of global e-grocery food sales, with the ecommerce giant projected to pass the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer by 2024 with revenues of $15 billion, compared to $14 billion, according to a new report from research firm Edge by Ascential. The projected CAGR through 2024 is 13%.

Walmart Expands Same-Day Delivery in Mexico

| Mike O'Brien

Walmart is offering three-hour delivery for certain home goods and technology products in Mexico, as it battles Amazon in the major Latin American market, according to Reuters. The new service covers 12,000 items including laptops, cell phones, televisions and clothing irons and is supported by two new ecommerce fulfillment centers.

parcel shipping delivery scan

More Than 6% of FedEx, UPS Parcel Shipments Studied in Q1 Were Late

| Mike O'Brien

More than 6% of 508,000 FedEx and UPS parcels shipped by 100 small-to-medium-sized retailers between January and March 2019 were delayed, nearly 72% of them by a full day, according to a report from LateShipment.com. The numbers were worse for 3PLs: 7.6% of their UPS and FedEx parcel shipments arrived late.