To compete in the ongoing online retailing arms race, Walmart is bringing its sizable resources to bear to capture not only the U.S., but the global e-commerce market. CEO Doug McMillon recently laid out four priorities for the retailer as it looks to not only continue to dominate the physical retail space but make significant inroads in e-commerce: Make every day easier for busy families, operate with discipline, be the most trusted retailer, and deliver results and position the company to win.
With the election behind them, consumers are eager to see the deals retailers will offer for the biggest shopping weekend of the year, with 59 percent of Americans - an estimated 137.4 million people - planning to or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.
Pitney Bowes, a global commerce technology company, says parcel shipping volume will grow at an annual rate of 5 to 7 percent through 2018, with cross border shipping leading the way, according to the company's Parcel Shipping Index annual report.
Both UPS and rival carrier FedEx have announced e-commerce partnership as they head into the busy holiday shopping season that kicks off with Cyber Weekend.
At Gap's annual shareholder meeting this year, CEO Art Peck said, "to not be considering Amazon and others would be in my view delusional." Soon after, Lands' End announced that it would start selling some merchandise on Amazon, as the online behemoth's "credibility of being a desired fashion destination for shoppers continues to grow."
A survey conducted this month indicates that online shopping on Black Friday is expanding beyond the U.S. and gaining popularity in other developed countries, says One Hour Translation, which provides translation services to global e-commerce companies.
If you think customer expectations are high overall in terms of e-commerce and direct-to-customer fulfillment, take a good look at the millennial generation. Across a number of studies you see a pattern: a keen desire for the most rapid shipping method possible; free, unlimited returns; and a greater willingness to spend a bit more to get it the same day.
Fashion retailer River Island is rolling out a radio frequency identification tool at all 280 of the stores it owns and operates. The retailer says it will track all of the garments it sells in the stores, which are located in United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium, using tags applied by suppliers.
PetSmart has become one of the latest companies to offer same-day delivery - a year and a half behind rival Petco with partner Instacart - via partner Deliv. PetSmart.com says the service is now available in California (Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, San Jose), Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle and Chicago. By mid-November, it will be available in eight additional metro areas for a total of nearly 2,500 zip codes serviced.
To uncover which retailers have the best customer experience and which are lacking, consumer-opinion analyst Aspectiva examined the reviews of over 40 of the most popular e-commerce sites. Through the use of new AI technology, Aspectiva examined over 75,000 individual reviews, averaging over 1,800 reviews per site.
The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the e-commerce/omnichannel industry — which consists of companies engaged in internet retailing, including those with auxiliary brick-and-mortar stores. Learn how e-commerce/omnichannel companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.
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