A disgruntled group of FedEx Ground contractors are blaming the company for losses this past peak season due to investments in leased vehicles and temporary staff for a massive holiday deluge that never materialized, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. More than 800 of FedEx Ground’s 5,000+ contractor firms signed onto the letter.
Shippo, a provider of shipping software, has created an API integration with major ecommerce platform company Shopify, making its tools natively available to millions of Shopify merchants, a process that is being accelerated by a major investment from Shopify. Much of the initial focus is on expanding in European markets.
Peel-off stacks, dedicated piles of 50 containers or more, are a great port congestion solution if you’re a mega shipper like Walmart, but less so if you’re an SMB. But now smaller players can have freight consolidated to create peel-off stacks. Bryn Heimbeck of Trade Tech talks about a pilot project at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach.
Warp, providers of a software platform connecting smaller middle mile carriers and cross-dock facilities with SMB shippers, has exited stealth mode with a $2.4M seed round as it expands to more markets, working toward its vision of a coast-to-coast LTL network. One of the co-founders also started hot last mile startup AxleHire.
Veho, a startup whose software matches demand to crowdsourced drivers and handles deliveries and returns out of its own warehouses, has raised another $170 million to reach a $1.5 billion valuation, just two months after its last $125 million round made it a unicorn. The company plans to expand to national coverage in 2022.
Nearly one in five American consumers prefer the more convenient option of buy online, pickup anywhere or BOPA vs. showing up at a retailer’s stores in an area, if it’s offered at checkout, according to a new study from Via.Delivery. The study was based on thousands of ecommerce transactions in Q4 2021.
It may be cold outside this Valentine’s Day, but things are starting to heat up for Ecommerce Operations Technology Summit 2022, to be held April 12-13 at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Disney Springs Area as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. Photo credit: Mick Haupt on Unsplash
UPS saw package volume increase by a below-projection 0.2% in Q4, higher in the beginning and lighter at the end, as the Omicron surge, the pull-forward of shopper activity and retail inventory challenges weighed on the key metric, the company said in its fourth quarter call. Amazon represented 11.7% of its business in 2021.
Due to the complexity of freight shipping operations, many businesses that move large quantities of goods may have preconceived notions about LTL or believe common myths about why LTL isn’t right for them. By and large, these myths may be exactly the opposite of the how a well-organized and prepared 3PL handles LTL shipments.
How can retailers keep problems outside their control from damaging customer relationships? Competing on customer experience (CX) is always smart, but right now it’s critical. Of course, the best CX is getting the products they want when they want them. But you can deliver excellent CX in other ways to maintain trust and goodwill.