Warehouse Management

For a retail company with a profoundly simple business model and interior layout, there always seems to be interesting Costco secrets floating around the internet. How many rotisserie chickens does Costco sell in a given year? Hey, did you know that Costco sells caskets and really pricey bling online? So as a means to join this Costco cult underworld of facts and figures, Belus Capital Advisors CEO Brian Sozzi has dug through his notes on the company compiled through seven years of client coverage.

Striking workers at a Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd. shoe factory in China halted production for a fifth day in a dispute over company contributions to employees’ social security and housing funds. The stoppage at the shoemaker for sportswear brands including Nike, Adidas and Asics continued while Yue Yuen communicates with workers about an offer to increase the social security benefit starting May 1, said George Liu, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-based shoemaker. Monitoring group China Labour Bulletin said on its website strikers at the Dongguan, China facility numbered at least 10,000.

Although growing quickly may seem like the ideal scenario, it can cause operational issues for retailers who are ill equipped to scale effectively. A rapid uptick in demand carries several added expenses that tax resources, cash flow and working capital. It requires financing to pay for more inventory, new staff, shipping and packaging costs, and any additional supplies or capital necessary to fulfill orders.

Carter's increased its sales in 2013 for the 25th consecutive year, with both its wholesale and retail businesses reporting sales topping $1 billion. As sales continue to grow, the children's apparel and accessories retailer's distribution costs became inflated, prompting the construction of a fully automated multichannel distribution center (DC) in Braselton, Georgia that's already improved the bottom line and has yet to reach full ramp-up. In 2013, Carter's spent nearly $110 million on distribution, a number EVP and CFO Richard Westenberger hopes to trim when the new DC is fully ramped up later this year.

J.Crew Group Inc., the retailer owned by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP, is interviewing banks as it weighs an initial public offering in the U.S. later this year, people familiar with the matter said. With 451 stores and about $2.4 billion in annual sales, J. Crew may fetch a valuation of as much as $5 billion, one of the people said. That's almost twice the $2.64 billion value of J.Crew's buyout by TPG and Leonard Green three years ago.

In a bid to get online orders to customers faster, Home Depot on Monday opened a new fulfillment center in Locust Grove, Ga. The 1 million-square-foot facility will open with 125 jobs, but will eventually increase that number to 300, the Atlanta-based retailer said. The company's move is part of fast-growing competition among retailers to deliver orders to consumers with more agility, often in two days or less. Online giant Amazon.com suggested in December it could push the industry even further in the next four years by using drones to deliver packages 30 minutes after a completed customer order.

William S. Simon, CEO of Wal-Mart for the United States, said on Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors that the company was providing a $10 million fund to promote American manufacturing in a push to sell more American-made products. The fund, to be distributed over five years, will award grants for new manufacturing processes and help to encourage such projects in this country, a company spokeswoman said. Early last year, Wal-Mart said it would increase sourcing of American-made products by $50 billion over a 10-year period, buying goods already made here and helping vendors bring production back from overseas.

So the ad on Workamper read: Work in our distribution centers — Fernley, Nevada, Coffeyville, Kansas, or Campbellsville, Kentucky. We offer: paid campsite, $10 to $11.50 wage per hour, shift differential, completion bonus, overtime at time-and-a-half, paid utilities in KY and KS (except propane), Amazon.com employee discount. Over the past five years I've crossed the country twice in my RV working for a variety of businesses from KOA campgrounds. Here's a look at my experiences:

Preference centers are the foundation of a brand's digitally connected infrastructure. They help companies recognize and engage their customers, and enable consumers to digitally connect with a brand on their terms. Brands need to consider the elements of channel, frequency and content, and let customers choose their own unique combinations of communication with the brand. The CRM concepts of right time, right message and right channel are steeped in analytics to deliver a message sometimes even before the customer knows they want it. You need to start with what the customer tells you, however, and then layer in more data to reach a rich customer profile.

Amazon.com is expanding its distribution centers in a new direction, one that's unlikely to please its competitors or third-party sellers. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon has set up operations inside Proctor & Gamble's manufacturing warehouses, enabling it to fulfill products cheaper and faster than if the manufacturer shipped the items to Amazon's own warehouses. "The e-commerce giant is quietly setting up shop inside the warehouses of a number of important suppliers as it works to open up the next big frontier for internet sales: everyday products like toilet paper, diapers and shampoo," wrote the Journal.