Order Fulfillment

Understand Web users -- Drive customers to your Website -- Show results. It57;s the name of the game! With this responsibility also comes increasing pressure to prove the effectiveness of your online strategies.

For nearly two years, Amazon has been trying to get manufacturers to adopt “frustration-free packaging” that gets rid of plastic cases and air-bubble wrap — major irritants for consumers and one of Amazon’s biggest sources of customer complaints.

Fifth Gear announces a three-year extension of its relationship with Hallmark Custom Marketing (HCM) supporting Hallmark’s UNICEF partnership through order fulfillment and customer contact center services. Hallmark Custom Marketing has extended its fulfillment contract for UNICEF products with Fifth Gear through the end of 2013.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to total 14.5 million containers for 2010, a 15 percent increase over last year’s unusually low numbers as the economy continues its cautious recovery, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Problem: Pearl Izumi USA, a cross-channel retailer of sports apparel, wanted to bring back its custom clothing business, which had been shuttered nearly eight years ago because it wasn't hitting profit targets.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in July compared with the same month a year ago, but double-digit increases seen in recent months should taper offer this fall as retailers cautiously manage their inventories, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Clothing maker Perry Ellis International sees a 10 percent rise in industrywide apparel prices over the next two years amid rising commodity prices and higher labor costs in China. "Prices have to go up at some point. The American consumer will have to pay higher prices... It's only apparel and electronics, the items that keep coming down, everything else in life has come up," Chief Executive George Feldenkreis told the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York.

Retailers have been plagued by issues; some have suffered from product misses, others from deep discounts, and everyone has been hurt by the decline in consumer spending. But one factor that has actually been a positive for the sector may now begin to put pressure on retailers. After a decade of a favorable sourcing environment, the cost of production is rising. Prices for cotton have nearly doubled over the last year, capacity in China is drying up and freight costs are expected to rise. And retailers, who have finally begun to regain their footing, will now be forced to up their prices to pass along some of the costs to consumers.

With signs of economic recovery taking shape this year, especially in the world of retail, marketers are refocusing their attentions on maintaining a competitive edge. One way they're doing this is by considering outsourced fulfillment operations with third-party providers. Here are three reasons why it may be the hottest iron to strike this year:

To help shed some light on the packaging industry, and how it affects the consumer experience, JoAnn Hines, Packaging Diva, a consultant and expert on packaging, and Mark Mitchell, president of Tailford Mitchell, a branding and packaging design consulting firm, led a session on the topic at last month's National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Orlando, Fla.