Wing, the drone company owned by Google parent Alphabet, is piloting a drone delivery program starting next month in Christiansburg, VA in partnership with FedEx and Walgreens, the first time a retailer will offer this kind of service in the U.S.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the company plans to purchase 100,000 electric-powered vans from Detroit startup Rivian Automotive, as it seeks to accomplish two goals in one stroke: Decreasing its carbon footprint and increasing its delivery capabilities.
As consumer behavior shifts and omnichannel retailing grows, retailers are getting closer to customers to improve service and help ensure profitability. Increasingly, they look to four key areas where shifts can make fulfillment more efficient: Retail footprint; manufacturer direct shipping; 3D print & ship; and pickup sites.
If we’re looking to turn deliveries into a catalyst for environmental change, drones and autonomous vehicles will help, but we’re not quite there yet. In the meantime enterprises should focus on improving delivery efficiency, which means providing drivers with the most efficient routes and the maximum number of packages per run.
With ecommerce expanding and consumers expecting greater speed and convenience, retailers need cost-effective ways to meet these demands. Here is a look at how automated lockers are key to the overall buy online pickup in-store experience.
Target is expanding its free curbside pickup program, Drive Up, ahead of the busy back-to-school season, making it available at 1,550 stores and adding coverage in the Northeast, the company reported in a blog post. Several markets are being added in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with expansion in others.
Moving above and beyond the game-changing Whole Foods acquisition from 2017, Amazon is considering creation of a new hybrid grocery chain that would combine aspects of a pickup and delivery operation with a smaller retail space for shopping fresh items, according to a report in the New York Times.
Israeli firm CommonSense Robotics is building what it says is the world’s first underground automated fulfillment operation for grocery delivery, anticipating a future where facilities like this will occupy abandoned urban spaces above and below ground to fulfill one-hour deliveries for city dwellers.
Shooting across Amazon’s bow with its FBA program, Shopify is going all-in on ecommerce fulfillment, tapping 3PL partners to provide two-day delivery across the U.S. for merchants on its ecommerce platform, many with physical stores, while letting them keep customer data and a branded packaging experience.
You just knew Amazon wasn’t going to get shut out of a DOT sanctioned drone delivery pilot program a year ago that let in Google, a FedEx/General Electric/Intel team and Uber, and take it lying down. The ecommerce giant unveiled a bold new delivery system that’s part drone, part aircraft and part robot that uses sensors, AI and ML.