Shipping

It’s hard for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to keep up with the likes of Amazon.com, especially when it comes to shipping. The e-commerce powerhouse is constantly shaking up the shipping industry — from standard two-day shipping for Prime members to delivering packages via drones to a new Uber-like app for its freight and delivery…

The 24/7 nature of online shopping is both good and bad. On one hand, as retailers, you reap the rewards of incoming revenue around the clock — from anyone, anywhere, anytime, unfettered by opening and closing times. On the other hand, when orders escalate at peak periods, you need to fulfill and ship them out…

Amazon.com is building an app that matches truck drivers with shippers, a new service that would deepen its presence in the $800 billion trucking industry, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Business Insider. The app, scheduled to launch next summer, is designed to make it easier for truck drivers to find shippers that…

Union pilots who fly products for Amazon.com are taking concerns about pay, working conditions and staffing shortages directly to online shoppers with a digital marketing campaign that suggests the e-tailer may struggle to deliver holiday gifts on time. The union began running advertisements on Facebook and Google last week, targeting Amazon customers. If clicked on,…

Today is Free Shipping Day, and more than a thousand retailers are participating. Free Shipping Day was started in 2007, and is a one-day, online-shopping event in which thousands of participating retailers offer free shipping and guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. Big-name retailers are taking part this year, including J.C. Penney, Target, Neiman Marcus and…

It's only halfway through December and UPS and FedEx are already having a hard time keeping up with the holiday season. Shipping volumes have blown past expectations, delaying the delivery of some of the millions of orders customers have placed online since Thanksgiving. The Consumerist reports UPS had been expecting to handle a record 700…

With less than two weeks until Christmas, Wal-Mart is looking to be the go-to shopping destination for both in-store and online procrastinators. The big-box retailer is offering free in-store pickup of online orders placed by 6 p.m. local time on Dec. 23, and has launched a dedicated website for customers to view last-minute gift inventory available…

To some observers, e-commerce startup Jet.com was taking a gamble when it made the decision to double the size of its headquarters in Hoboken, N.J., and commit to a distribution facility the size of more than 12 football fields in southern New Jersey. However, experts agree that betting on the growth of e-commerce is a sure…

Online sales continue to grow as a proportion of overall retail sales, and returns are growing at an even faster rate. With the holiday peak season upon us, retailers will need to focus more than ever on handling returns in ways that avoid alienating their customers — and consequently losing future sales. Given the rising…

Today’s digital consumers are placing ever greater demands on e-commerce providers to "get delivery right" or lose their business. Indeed, delivery is now a key differentiating factor that has a significant impact on consumer online purchasing decisions. According to the findings of the recent MetaPack 2016 State of E-Commerce Delivery Consumer Research Report, 61 percent…