Returns, returns policy, holiday returns, retail, online retail, ecommerce, ecommerce fulfillment, operations and fulfillment, shipping/delivery

Return to Sender: Making Package Returns Easy

| Amine Khechfe

Sometimes an item doesn’t fit, it doesn’t match and sometimes customers simply just change their minds. Whatever the reason, returns are business critical and can affect the customer experience. Here are a few tips to help you “up” your returns game.

A Fantastic Customer Experience Doesn’t End With the Sale

| Jonathan Levitt

Failing to fulfill customers’ orders in a timely fashion can spell disaster for retailers of any size. Delivering products late can kill sales, batter your reputation and destroy customer loyalty. It can also squander all of the time, money and resources you spent acquiring new customers. Which is exactly why merchants need to remember that the customer experience journey doesn’t end with a sale.

Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Deliv, same-day delivery, Amazon, ecommerce

Macy’s Addresses Omnichannel and Same-day Delivery

| Erin Lynch

While the fourth quarter showed a 1.6% decline in sales, Karen M. Hoguet, chief financial officer at Macy’s, said moving forward the retailer plans on making strides in its omnichannel fulfillment initiatives including buy online, pick up in-store, and same-day delivery.

Omnichannel, omnichannel operations, omnichannel retail, retail inventory management, inventory management, reverse logistics, buy online pickup in store

The Key to Omnichannel Success: A Strong Logistics Strategy

| Maria Haggerty

Consumers want more flexibility in shipping and fulfillment, including the ability to select delivery dates and times, and to reroute packages based on personal preferences. With consumers placing a heavy emphasis on shipping in retail decision-making, it’s critical for retailers to explore new ways to leverage logistics strategy as a driver of omnichannel success.

How RibbedTee Prepared its Customers for Holiday 2013 Delays

| Erin Lynch

If the 2013 holiday season will be remembered for anything in the ecommerce world, it very well could be how the lack of communication between merchants, carriers and shoppers created an unsatisfactory shopping experience, which is exactly why RibbedTee.com decided to be as upfront as possible regarding a lag in inventory.

5 Ways to Cut Your Order Fulfillment Costs

| Stephen Bulger

It’s no secret that online shoppers are looking for low-priced items, free shipping or free returns. As a result, merchants are looking for ways to keep costs low while fulfilling orders in ways that don’t break the bank. To help solve the dilemma, here are five simple ways to cut fulfillment costs that don’t involve big hardware or software investments.

Warehouse/Distribution Center, distribution center, fulfillment center, Walmart, QVC, Simon & Schuster, FedEx, Urban Outfitters, Conn's HomePlus

3 Must-Haves for a Successful Try-Before-You-Buy Policy

| Maria Haggerty

At-home try-on merchants such as Warby Parker mitigate many of the uncertainties and anxieties around purchasing online, but pose significant logistic and fulfillment challenges for retailers. Before offering try-before-you-buy, it’s important to understand the logistic and fulfillment implications associated with these types of policies. Here are three key tips you need to master in order to be a successful free, at-home try-on policy.

ecommerce fulfillment, shipping data, distribution data, Warehouse/Distribution Center, ecommerce shipping, direct-to-customer fulfillment

Untangling the Retail Supply Chain with Real-Time Analytics

| Dale Skeen

Retail supply chains are longer and more tangled than ever – the complexity of the data coupled with high customer expectations around service and reliability are taxing traditional approaches to supply chain management to their limits. In this article you will learn how to pinpoint problems faster, make adjustments quickly, prevent missed deliveries, and catch those out-of-stock situations before they can impact the customer.