Shipping

Wal-Mart Takes Aim at Amazon With Free Shipping Offer
June 30, 2016 at 12:08 pm

Wal-Mart is sweetening the deal for shoppers it wants to win over from Amazon.com by offering a free one-month trial of “ShippingPass,” its answer to its online rival’s Prime subscription plan. The world’s largest retailer said that starting this Friday it was offering a free 30-day trial of ShippingPass. That annual subscription service, like Prime, offers members unlimited…

In the News: Apple Pay Coming to the Web
June 14, 2016 at 12:23 pm

Learn more about why Apple Pay becoming available on the web is a potential game changer for online retailers; what Staples is doing to compete in today's instant gratification economy; and an unintended consequence for retailers’ generous return policies — lower pay for store associates.

Wal-Mart Teams With Uber, Lyft For Grocery Delivery Test
June 3, 2016 at 10:26 am

Wal-Mart has lined up two key new partners in combatting Amazon.com’s challenge in the grocery delivery wars: ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft. In a test, the largest U.S. retailer will use either Uber or Lyft for the so-called “last mile” of grocery delivery in small areas of Denver and Phoenix when a customer requests home delivery.…

eBay to Use Artificial Intelligence to Improve Shipping
May 27, 2016 at 10:21 am

eBay CEO Devin Wenig hopes to be able to anticipate what shoppers want to buy by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). In a post on the eBay corporate blog, Wenig discussed how technology is influencing e-commerce, and he also discussed his own company's interest in this area. The CEO expects the pace of development of AI to…

USPS Touts E-Commerce Initiatives in Plea for Postal Reform
May 16, 2016 at 10:35 am

Postmaster General Megan Brennan called on Congress to enact legislation to help the Postal Service after releasing the agency's second-quarter financial report last week. She called the agency's challenges "serious but solvable." Brennan testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, saying the USPS has worked with stakeholders on several provisions that can…

Jet Launches Grocery Delivery, Continues Battle With Amazon
May 13, 2016 at 11:43 am

Jet.com, the e-commerce upstart from Diapers.com founder Marc Lore, is entering a new business: groceries. The company generated a huge amount of buzz by raising hundreds of millions in funding before even opening its doors in July. Its goal is to take on Amazon.com and other e-commerce giants by selling everything from household goods to sports…

With New Delivery Service, Wal-Mart Again Takes the Fight to Amazon
May 12, 2016 at 10:54 am

Wal-Mart sure is trying to be more like rival Amazon.com in an effort to to improve its weak sales trends. The world's largest retailer is testing a two-day shipping subscription service called ShoppingPass that mirrors Amazon's successful Prime service, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Members to ShoppingPass reportedly will get free, two-day…

Amazon Leases 20 More Jets for Growing Air-Cargo Fleet
May 6, 2016 at 9:57 am

Amazon.com will lease 20 cargo planes from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, a deal that will double the size of the tech and retail giant’s emerging air force and could give it a sizable stake in a second air-freight company. The move comes just a few months after Amazon struck a similar deal with Air Cargo Transport…

China Grants Unconditional Approval of FedEx, TNT Express Merger
May 2, 2016 at 10:57 am

In its ongoing efforts to merge, FedEx and TNT Express jointly announced last Friday the unconditional approval of the Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China. After winning approvals in the United States (November 2015), EU (January 2016) and Brazil (February 2016), China was the last major regulatory hurdle for FedEx to gain in its…