American Eagle Outfitters and Gap, who both launched B2B outsourcing units in 2022 to monetize their large shipping and fulfillment networks, have been adding partners lately to expand their capabilities, providing SMB and omnichannel retailers access to capacity and optimization they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Warehouse automation enables today’s retailers and brands to keep growing and preparing for the future, while being flexible and agile enough to adjust to sudden shifts in demand. There are many different flavors of advanced technology to help you get to where you need to be to remain competitive. Here’s a primer on them.
Pricing increases on parcel delivery helped the U.S. Postal Service in Q1, as parcel volume declined 3.5% to 70 million pieces, while parcel revenue gained 2.4% to $8.84 billion. Overall revenue increased 1% to $21.5 billion, with a net loss of $1.03 billion, an improvement over $1.55 billion a year earlier.
Amazon reported a mix bag of results for its fourth quarter and year, with ad revenue up but ecommerce sales down, and even the vaunted Amazon Web Services, the company’s profit driver for years, fell short of expectations in what executives repeatedly called an “uncertain economy.”
AxleHire, a startup last-mile logistics provider, has partnered with major 3PL and freight forwarder Seko Logistics to enable next-day deliveries directly from Seko facilities, eliminating middle-mile linehauls between hubs, saving time and money for shippers.
Scaling for growth and business fluctuations are expected to be a primary focus for retailers and brands this year, and has a major impact on fulfillment operations. Before you get ahead of your skis on automation and robotics, here are some basics on doing a needs assessment and a system check to align investments with business needs.
UPS reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of expectations but earnings ahead of the consensus, while the outlook for 2023 appears challenged and the company is in margin protection mode against falling volumes and other volatility. And CEO Carol Tome optimistically predicted a “win, win, win” outcome with the Teamsters.
Five executives who departed Rakuten Super Logistics after the Japanese parent company sold the assets in 2022 to FirstMile owner Devin Johnson have now found a home at Speed Commerce, which finds itself in expansion mode, with a focus on mid-market ecommerce firms.
While Amazon has been able to stay ahead of growing efforts at labor organizing in the U.S., at least for the time being, union workers at an Amazon facility in the UK midlands have walked off the job in protest over pay, a first in the country, according to several media reports.
Activist investor Hestia Capital has proposed a majority slate of seven directors to replace current board members at Pitney Bowes, citing poor performance and what it termed strategic missteps over the past decade, with the company responding that Hestia is not interested in a good faith discussion.