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A 3PL-to-Insourcing Switch: 10 Considerations

| Brian Barry

Merchants that utilize third-party fulfillment (3PL) services sometimes consider transitioning back to internal fulfillment operations. Sometimes it’s to control costs, while others have had a bad experience with 3PLs and now only trust themselves with their operations. Here are 10 factors to consider if you’re looking to insource.

Google Shopping

Creating Dynamic PPC Ads on Google Shopping

| Rob Van Nuenen

Google Shopping plays a key role for retailers and online advertisers as it is essentially a product search engine for ecommerce stores. As a merchant you sometimes need to create hundreds of PPC ads for every product, aligned with pricing and inventory. Although this may seem overwhelming, it’s simpler than you think – using a data feed.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Driving Toward Interoperability for Warehouse Robots

| Mike O'Brien

There has been a steady proliferation of autonomous mobile robot makers. This while demand has grown for AMRs in order fulfillment, as ecommerce booms and labor is tight. But can different warehouse robots play nice together? Two members of a standards group explain how it’s happening in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.

Fetch Robotics in warehouse feature

Fetch Robotics Acquired By Zebra for $290M

| Mike O'Brien

Zebra Technologies, a provider of hardware and software for warehouse fulfillment and inventory management, has acquired Fetch Robotics for $290 million, after an initial investment and partnership. Zebra saw a good fit between its workflow software and inventory/pick management devices and Fetch’s AMR capabilities.

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Ecommerce Operations Summit Strikes the Right Notes in Music City

| Mike O'Brien

Ecommerce Operations Summit 2021 is back live, at the Gaylord Opreyland in Nashville on Aug. 17-18, and the team at Multichannel Merchant has a great event on tap to help operations and fulfillment professionals keep on top of key industry trends and address the challenges of a disruptive time. Read on for some program highlights.

MFCs: Ecommerce Orders Cheaper, Within Hours

| Brian Barry

With labor costs increasing, parcel shipping becoming more expensive and carriers struggling to support peak volumes, companies are implementing new strategies with micro fulfillment centers or MFCs. The concept is not new and they’re not for everyone, but it’s worth assessing how it might fit into your fulfillment network strategy.

How Intelligent Fulfillment Helps Meet Consumer Demands

| Michael Johnson

Increasing demand for next-day and same-day delivery is forcing companies to adopt new strategies and restructure traditional methods to compete. How can you evolve from surviving to thriving in a disrupted economy? Intelligent fulfillment is one way, a multi-layered strategy powered by data and analytics.

Nimble Robotics Simon Kalouche feature

Nimble Robotics Takes In $50M, Adds AI Luminaries

| Mike O'Brien

Nimble Robotics, a maker of order picking and packing robots for ecommerce, is the latest fulfillment automation maker to join the massive VC gravy train of late in ecommerce technology, raising $50 million in Series A financing in a round led by DNS Capital and GSR Ventures.

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Fulfillment Automation and Reduced Labor Costs

| Brian Barry

In 2021, will order demand continue at the same volume? How will it change? And how will it impact my labor demand? For many multichannel companies, this means moving toward fulfillment automation in order to decrease the amount of labor and its increasing costs. Here are 2 scenarios where automation was cost justified.

Ahold Giant MFC feature

Ahold Delhaize Steps Up Automation Efforts

| Mike O'Brien

Ahold Delhaize, the Netherlands-based grocery conglomerate that owns Stop & Shop, Giant and other U.S. chains, plans to pilot micro-fulfillment technology at one of Giant’s fulfillment centers in Philadelphia as it competes with Kroger’s e-fulfillment model using tech partner Ocado.