Ongoing Labor Shortage Underscores Need for Optimized Warehouses

| Mike O'Brien

Finding sufficient warehouse staff is a problem that’s not going away soon, so merchants are looking to maximize productivity and efficiency. This special report from Multichannel Merchant explores ways they are creating optimized warehouses to address labor shortages, including tactics like incentives, space optimization and investment in a modern warehouse management system (WMS).

MCM Week in review 3/9/18

| Chris Intili

Multichannel Merchant The News, Commentary & Events that Shaped Commerce This Week week of 3/9/2018 Best Buy Reports Strong Q4 Growth, Adds New Wrinkle to Store Pickup Best Buy reported … Continue Reading →

Retail and Ecommerce Distribution Center Roundup, 3/5/18

| Mike O'Brien

JC Penney, DSW, Amazon and Gilt are among those announcing distribution center and fulfillment center activity recently. See what is opening and closing in the domestic market for retail and ecommerce companies.

MCM O+F Advisor 3-7-18

| Chris Intili

Multichannel Merchant Operations & Fulfillment Strategies & Tactics week of 3/7/2018 How to Plan for Relocating an Ecommerce Fulfillment Center Planning and executing the relocation of an ecommerce fulfillment center … Continue Reading →

MCM O+F Advisor 2-28-18

| Chris Intili

Multichannel Merchant Operations & Fulfillment Strategies & Tactics week of 02/28/2018 How to Effectively Tackle Cross-Channel Customer Centricity In our monthly MCM CommerceChat podcast, Angie Stocklin of One Click Ventures … Continue Reading →

Merchants Differentiating in the Last Mile, Returns, Outsourcing

| Mike O'Brien

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.

Walmart Cites Operational Issues in Q4 Ecommerce Slowdown

| Daniela Forte

Due in large part to inventory management issues around the critical holiday period, Walmart reported a serious slowdown in its booming ecommerce growth during the fourth quarter, which increased 23% compared to a 50% gain a year earlier. See what these challenges were for Walmart and what it meant for sales in the fourth quarter.

Case Study: Opening Your First Ecommerce Fulfillment Center

| Brian Barry

Moving from third-party fulfillment to opening an in-house ecommerce fulfillment center is a massive endeavor. This case study of how one DTC company got it done will provide useful examples as you evaluate the planning and startup challenges for your own new facility.