The U.S. Postal Service is projecting it will handle 800 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, a drop from both 2018 and 2017. Sunday delivery will be expanded beginning Nov. 24 to high-volume urban locations, with projections of over 8 million package deliveries on Sundays in December.
For many years, UPS and FedEx were in virtual lockstep on pricing and service offerings. That is until the past couple years, when they’ve begun to diverge as they seek to differentiate and carve out different market strategies. Mark Taylor of enVista discusses these changes as part of an MCM CommerceChat podcast.
With shipping and delivery such a critical piece of the customer experience in ecommerce, you need to choose the right carrier partner – or partners – that meet your business needs and fit your budget. Hear from shippers about how they determine the best fit and mix of service level and cost, and how they work with their carrier partners.
UPS is projecting a 26% increase on “national returns day” on Jan. 2, when 1.9 million inbound packages are expected to hit its network as Q4 ecommerce continues to balloon. Another somewhat smaller returns peak of 1.6 million packages/day will hit the week of Dec. 16; the daily average that month will be 1 million, UPS said.
Best Buy is getting into the holiday spirit early and pushing back on major competitors, offering free next-day delivery on thousands of items from Thanksgiving through Christmas, and free standard shipping in the few areas where next day isn’t available. The company says it’s available in 42 U.S. markets, covering 99% of its customers.
FREE ON DEMAND Webinar – This webinar with Multichannel Merchant and Transportation Insight will highlight four risk areas you need to focus on in the “Amazon Effect” era in order to realize profitable ecommerce growth. You’ll not only understand these risks but the steps you can take to proactively mitigate them.
Stamps.com, which had been struggling since ending its long-term partnership with the U.S. Parcel Service in February, has been buoyed by a new deal with UPS. As part of the deal, Stamps.com’s 740,000 shipper customers can get discounts up to 55% off standard UPS rates and relief from surcharges.
Pitney Bowes was hit by a ransomware attack that affected its postage systems and impacted customers globally. The company said systems were up and running although high volumes could still cause issues, and no personal customer or employee data was compromised. The same attack hit Florida cities and a newspaper in 2018.
Drop shipping used to be a bit of a buzzword when it was first introduced in the ecommerce world. Today, it’s used by almost a quarter of online businesses as a primary order and fulfillment method. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of drop shipping to help you determine if it’s the right business model for your brand and business.
Keynote presentations from supply chain executives at REI and Neiman Marcus will headline Ecommerce Operations Summit 2020, which will be held April 14-16 at the Marriott Orlando World Center. The show will be packed with great sessions and thought leaders across a range of key topics and disciplines.