Warehouse Management

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching, many retailers still remember the onslaught of product returns from the 2021 season. Now as the decorations are about to come back out, business owners are looking to reinforce their operations in case of a repeat of last year. Statistics from the National Retail Federation (NRF) showed that…

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 news cycle is confusing. We hear warehouse vacancy rates are at a 27-year low. Then we read that new warehouses are being developed at record rates and that Amazon.com is shedding excess space. At the end of the day, the lived experience of most retailers and merchants is that capacity is tight — and expensive.…

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…

We've all noticed many of the things we buy are in short supply. From our favorite foods to furniture, items that once seemed to be in abundance on store shelves or online are out of stock and often come with lengthy waitlists. Pandemic-induced supply chain plagues — like chip shortages, labor shortages, and backlogged cargo…

From the manufacturing of goods to shipping to last-mile fulfillment and delivery, the entire supply chain has seen its challenges over the last few years. It's difficult for everyone directly involved to relieve the stresses being put on the cogs that keep the machine running. With the increase in consumer demand for at-home deliveries during…

The retail distribution center has undergone a significant transformation in the last five years. Once a fairly predictable — and largely manual — operation focused on store replenishment, today’s retail distribution center has become the hub of an omnichannel retail strategy. The impact of the changes required by this transformation are hard to overstate. From…

The New York attorney general is going after Amazon.com, accusing the e-commerce giant of rolling back protocols for COVID-19 in at least one of its warehouses. New York Attorney General Letitia James sought an emergency court order on Tuesday, saying Amazon's decision on COVID-19 safety leaves employees at a higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus. James…

American consumers spent a whopping $861.12 billion with online retailers in 2020, up 44 percent from the previous year. Amazon.com, the largest North American online retailer, reported a significant rise in site visits in January 2021, up 20 percent from the year prior. It’s plain to see that e-commerce is blowing up, and we don’t…

Earlier this year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2021 retail sales forecast. NRF expects retail sales to rise between 6.5 percent and 8.2 percent over 2020, which equates to a $4.33 trillion uptick. This prediction hinges on the success of COVID-19 vaccinations and the re-opening of the economy, but should it play out,…