Shipping platform firm Shippo has raised another $50 million in capital, just three months after its last $45 million round, doubling its valuation in that time to over $1 billion as it claims 100,000 ecommerce customers and looks to expand internationally via marketplace and platform partners.
FedEx announced a new round of rate increases starting June 21, including bumps in additional handling, peak surcharge and residential delivery charges, leaving beleaguered ecommerce shippers to wonder where the increases will end. The carrier is also leaving in place a peak oversized charge of $30 per package from January.
Ecommerce subscription enrollment is on the rise, up 41% across verticals, according to data from Ordergroove. As companies rush to fill greater order volume, many are experiencing a corresponding rise in subscription fulfillment costs. Here are four strategies that have proven effective for leading subscription companies.
Now that the challenges of the lockdown era are behind, and disruptions have solidified into new consumer behaviors and business practices, what’s next for ecommerce operations? In our annual MCM Outlook report, we talk to retail leaders and industry experts to drill down into how companies are faring and what’s working.
Capping a relationship going back three years, Panasonic will acquire supply chain software firm Blue Yonder, formerly JDA Software. It formally joins together Panasonic’s edge computing, sensor and IoT capabilities with Blue Yonder’s autonomous supply chain solution, solving complex logistics and fulfillment challenges.
Amazon has increased its capital expenditures by 80% in the past year, including continuing expansion of Amazon Logistics such as new cargo planes, trailers and linehaul trucks and adding to its massive Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program. All told, Amazon has increased its logistics capacity by 50% in the past year alone.
The USPS announced a number of measures aimed at addressing peak season surges later this year, after it got buried in a deluge of holiday parcels in November and December, many of them handed off from UPS and FedEx. This includes 138 new pieces of sortation equipment and replacing mail sorting equipment at 18 facilities.
AxleHire, a last-mile solutions company powering delivery for HelloFresh, Deliverr, Freshly and Pet Food Express, has closed a $20M funding round aimed at increasing its sortation capabilities, expanding its network and moving more into general ecommerce. It also hopes to create a national network to compete with regional carriers.
It’s an open question whether Louis DeJoy will survive in his highly politicized position as Postmaster General long enough to see the wide-ranging reforms he wants to enact realized, or at least started. Considering the critical importance of the USPS, with its every-ZIP-every-door-every-day mandate, a lot hangs in the balance.
As container ships piled up at the blocked Suez Canal for six days, an already serious issue of port congestion has grown worse, rippling down to longer delays on consumer orders as inventories deplete with goods hung up in transit. Some chokepoints have seen easing but shippers continue to scramble and costs rise.