Order Fulfillment

Each and every day automation is changing the way in which we operate. Retail distribution and fulfillment centers understand this firsthand, as they're increasingly integrating automated solutions into their day-to-day operations as consumer demand continues to increase. A recent report from Futurum Research interviewed industry leaders and executives to gather their thoughts on the challenges…

Despite inflation chatter dominating economic discussions, U.S. container imports in August 2022 (the most recent data) were 2,529,042 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which is up 18 percent from pre-pandemic August 2019. This is the first month since August 2020 that there has not been record imports vs. the previous year.  With the holiday shopping season fast…

Supply chains and logistics have seen seismic shifts forward in recent years. In 2020 alone, companies fast-tracked the digital transformation of their internal operations — and their customer and supply chain interactions — by three years to four years. The digitization of third-party logistics (3PL) providers began in the mid-90s, but the pandemic fueled progress…

The COVID pandemic reshaped the world of e-commerce and, concurrently, consumer expectations. With most brick-and-mortar stores temporarily shuttered, consumers moved online en masse and found a revamped online shopping experience. One report found that the pandemic accelerated the global shift to e-commerce by five years. But now, as the world returns to “normal,” online retailers…

Amazon Prime Day is globally recognized as one of if not the most successful e-commerce events in the world. This year’s Prime Day was Amazon.com's most successful event to date, with Prime members in more than 20 countries purchasing upwards of 300 million products in the mere span of 48 hours. With same- and next-day…

To rise above the competition, whether online or in-store, retailers need to ensure their customer experience remains consistent throughout the shopping journey, all the way to the consumer’s front door. Recent reports indicate that “one in three shoppers now expects same-day delivery,” and that “90 percent of consumers now see two- or three-day delivery as the…

Amazon.com announced on Monday that Prime members in some U.S. metro areas can now get same-day delivery from select retail stores. At launch, members in Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Las Vegas; Miami; Phoenix; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. can shop from PacSun, GNC, SuperDry, and Diesel on the Amazon app and Amazon.com and receive their items the…

The costs of the supply chain mess in the last two years have been staggering. Apart from the empty shelves of items like baby formula, consumers have had to pay a premium for cars and sometimes take the delivery of cars without certain parts and accessories. We've all read about the large number of ships…

In e-commerce, speed and order accuracy are the key drivers of customer satisfaction. A customer who expects diapers to be delivered in half an hour may abandon a retailer forever after one messy delay or mistake. Brick-and-mortar retailers that are building out their e-commerce operations are feeling pressure on many fronts. Q-commerce companies, which promise 15-…

Since the rise of Amazon.com, e-commerce shops have been steadily taking market share from brick-and-mortar retailers. This trend exploded during the pandemic: In 2020 alone, e-commerce grew more than 3X in the U.S. and nearly 5X in the United Kingdom. But in 2022, e-commerce and in-store retail are converging, not competing. The reason? The emergence…