Supply Chain

It’s no surprise that COVID-19 hit the apparel industry especially hard. An industry where purchase decisions are heavily influenced by the try-before-you-buy trend, apparel retailers were unable to welcome customers to their stores and into their fitting rooms for nearly three months. However, with stores beginning to reopen in many regions, apparel and department stores are seeing…

The dramatic shift toward e-commerce has sparked experimentation at Best Buy stores and inspired a new strategy that will turn some of them into hubs for online fulfillment, CNBC reported. Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO, said the retailer will start testing a ship-from-store pilot program. Although all Best Buy stores ship online orders, this program…

The migration of retail purchasing towards digital channels has been widely reported as the industry conforms to the safety necessities of COVID-19. Now, after rapidly pivoting to scale ship-to-home, curbside pickup, and final-mile delivery to preserve as much pre-pandemic revenue as possible, the sustainability of these fulfillment and delivery services is reaching an inflection point.…

Retail started the year from a position of strength, with holiday sales exceeding $730 billion. Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) was a distribution advantage for physical retailers, and direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands and mainstay Amazon.com were meeting their delivery promises. However, with COVID-19, this all came to a screeching halt. States shut down physical stores and…

The retail industry has seen significant damage as a result of unprecedented supply chain disruptions, wavering consumer confidence, and technological gaps for those making the leap from brick-and-mortar to digital storefront. Many retailers had just started to return to normalcy earlier this year, following a two-year trade war — and a promising Phase One deal…

Home Depot announced Tuesday that it will open three distribution centers in the Atlanta area over the next 18 months to keep up with rising customer expectations for fast order deliveries, which have only been amplified since the pandemic. Home Depot has scrambled to meet customers’ demand for speed and convenience. It began rolling out curbside…

While retail industry innovation efforts may be paused during this unprecedented time of social distancing and economic turmoil, a study involving blockchain, radio frequency identification (RFID), and global data standards provided a glimpse into the potentially remarkable capabilities of emerging technology to help solve supply chain challenges. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Auburn University…

During the most recent Women in Retail and Total Retail Virtual Exchange, Ran Reske, founder and co-CEO of Resident, a house of direct-to-consumer brands in the home goods space, including Nectar and DreamCloud, participated in an interview during which he discussed what the company is doing to ensure its brands rise above growing market competition, how the events…

Around the world, countries are taking gradual steps toward a return to normalcy amidst efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19. One of those key steps is the easing of restrictions on retailers. This follows months of store closures, which made e-commerce the primary sales channel for many businesses practically overnight. Looking ahead, we can…

On April 7, 1818, Brooks Brothers opened its first store in New York City. Fast-forward to more than 200 years later, Brooks Brothers, one of the oldest U.S. retailers, still operates today. As the lines between physical and digital worlds became blurred, new customer demands emerged — with Brooks Brothers alongside those trends. As stated by…