warehouse with forklift

Retail and Ecommerce Distribution Center Roundup

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon, Wayfair, Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and IKEA are among the major retailers announcing new distribution center or fulfillment center activity to meet consumer demand, in Multichannel Merchant’s periodic roundup of facilities news.

warehouse with forklift

3 Factors to Consider in Your 2018 Fulfillment Strategy

| Brian Barry

A perfect storm is forming that may batter your 2018 fulfillment strategy: The major federal tax overhaul, longer lead times for capital projects and the scarcity of warehouse space. To help you survive and thrive, here are 5 recommendations that will help you meet these challenges and turn them into opportunities.

Educated Warehouse Employees Become Stakeholders

| Curt Barry

In order to get warehouse employees to buy into your mission and business goals, management should create a dialog that recognizes them as stakeholders. Here are six areas to address in “continuing education” sessions that can open their eyes to the challenges you face, driving empowerment and creating incentives.

9 Due Diligence Best Practices for Warehouse Selection

| Curt Barry

In most markets, warehouse space is in short supply, especially for facilities that are 100,000 square feet and larger. As you look for facilities to lease or buy, an in-depth due diligence process is crucial to your success as new space is a major investment and a long-term commitment.

How to Develop a Plan for Moving Your Fulfillment Operations

| Curt Barry

Relocating your fulfillment operations is disruptive and can be challenging for employees even in the most organized businesses. Developing plans that all stakeholders collaborate on and buy into will help you minimize lost employee time and remain focused.

7 Ways to Improve Your WMS Testing Process

| Brian Barry

What can you do differently from a WMS testing perspective to reduce your business risk? These 7 principles will help you avoid system implementation woes by establishing a rigorous testing process. They can apply equally to any large-scale system project including ERP, OMS and ecommerce platform as well as WMS.

How to Analyze the Risk of Your DTC Fulfillment Projects

| Curt Barry

Risk analysis is essential for large and complex DTC fulfillment projects including the above as well as moving to or from third-party fulfillment operations. As a result, most large projects are not delivered on time or within budget. Understanding risk and the likelihood of negative outcomes will help reduce costs and improve on-time implementation.

Ecommerce Distribution Center Roundup

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon has been busy once again in our roundup of recent ecommerce distribution center and fulfillment center activity – including one on the site of a shuttered mall just east of Cleveland. Other companies planning to open new facilities include Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, ASOS and Tractor Supply.