eBay said 83 businesses – including online merchants as well as retailers with physical stores – have joined its eBay Local pilot program in Brooklyn, NY., offering a range of delivery options, including $5 same-day and in-store pickup, to consumers through eBay’s website and mobile apps.
The Brooklyn trial is taking place as the company shifts the focus of Amazon Local more toward its core marketplace sellers, with less emphasis on major retailers.
As the 2014 retail seasonal shipping peak roars to a close, the major carriers are seeing their numerous upgrades and investments put to the test.
Continuing on its juggernaut of instant fulfillment of all kinds of stuff from “the anything store,” Amazon today announced Prime Now, a service that will allow Prime members in New York to receive household items like paper towels and laundry soap in as little as an hour via a mobile app.
The app, which is available in iOs and Android versions, give Prime members in select New York neighborhoods free two-hour delivery; the one-hour version costs $7.99 per order. The company’s much-touted facility on West 34th St. in Manhattan will serve as the fulfillment hub.
Approximately one-third of retailers have invested in some level of omnichannel capabilities, but those that haven’t are setting themselves up for failure. Cross-channel features considered a luxury yesterday are a necessity today. So, what’s preventing retailers from omnichannel integration?
Multichannel Merchant senior editor Mike O’Brien talks with Shopatron founder and CEO Ed Stevens about holiday ecommerce trends in the 2014 shopping season.
In an effort to lure more holiday season shoppers, Best Buy announced it was offering free two-day shipping on thousands of online items.
Amazon is once again pushing the ecommerce envelope, testing out the use of bicycle couriers in New York as part of a service called Amazon Prime Now, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The service will provide delivery of some items purchased on Amazon.com in an hour or two, the Journal said it had been told by an unnamed source.
There are many systems possibilities for direct to customer businesses. The choices include ecommerce platforms with order management (OMS) functionality; standalone OMS; “best of breed” integrations with OMS, customer care or CRM front ends and a warehouse management system (WMS) for fulfillment; or ERP systems. How do you determine which is the best fit for your direct business?
Just as ecommerce once disrupted the time-honored tradition of brick and mortar retail, pop-up stores are seemingly the new, trendy must-haves for ecommerce retailers themselves.
From Amazon to Kate Spade, retailers globally have hopped on the pop-up store hype train.
The same technology that helped converge inventory levels has evolved and is now actually able to automate inventory management and fulfillment. By removing reliance on employees to track inventory, this makes mistakes less likely and allows order fulfillment from any location to orders on any channel. Thus omnichannel fulfillment is enabled, providing higher service levels to customers, more streamlined inventory management for retailers, and less stock tied up in expensive warehouses. Many retailers find that they are able to eliminate warehouses entirely and have retail locations function as mini-distribution centers.