As the battle heats up for same-day grocery delivery in urban markets, Jet.com is opening a new fulfillment center this fall in the Bronx, NY to service New York City customers with not only food in a flash but other merchandise as well. See what other players are up to in the hyper-competitive market.
Tokyo-based marketplace and logistics supplier Rakuten has acquired Curbside, a startup with $50 million in funding that powers same-day store and restaurant pickup of online orders, for an undisclosed amount. See what this deal means for the retail and restaurant customers of Curbside.
Sephora, Amazon, Target and Staples are among those making changes to their distribution network in Multichannel Merchant’s latest distribution center roundup.
Target reported a healthy 28% gain in ecommerce sales in the first quarter, while same-store sales rose 3%, helped by a 3.7% growth in traffic. Strong categories included home goods, household essentials and food and beverage. Here is what Target has implemented that led to the success of the first quarter.
Target is taking a new approach to its distribution model for retail and ecommerce orders, testing out a “flow center” concept that draws from a common inventory pool and sends smaller shipments to stores to enable quicker turns and lower stock levels.
After testing the waters, Amazon has stopped bidding on product listing ads on Google Shopping, according to data from marketing agency Merkle, opening the door for home goods sellers in their absence. See what this decision means for sellers, and what might be behind it.
In the endless march toward greater and faster convenience in shopping across channels, Target announced that 60 outlets in five major markets will offer a same-day delivery service on in-store purchases, making it easier to get bulky items home to an urban dwelling.
Target announced a number of initiatives to improve its omnichannel delivery and fulfillment services for customers as it continues to feel the heat from Amazon and other major competitors in retail and ecommerce.
As merchants search for ways to contend with the behemoth of Amazon – which accounted for about half of ecommerce sales in 2017 – many are focusing on the last mile, returns and outsourcing to battle back. This MCM Outlook report, based on our annual survey of Multichannel Merchant readers, looks at trends and stats in all three areas.
In a smaller version of December’s Target-Shipt deal, Dallas-based grocery chain H-E-B is acquiring Favor Delivery of Austin, an app-based service with access to 50,000 “runners” across Texas.