A Seattle startup has come out of nowhere to offer online merchants something even Amazon doesn't: overnight ground delivery to nearly anyone in the country.
Amazon.com Inc. wants to furnish your home. The online retail giant is making a major push into furniture and appliances, including building at least four massive warehouses focused on handling bulky items, according to people familiar with Amazon's plans.
The "last mile" is a telecom term for delivering telephone, cable or internet services to the customer. With the most connections to make, it's the bottleneck of the system. It's also the most expensive and difficult to upgrade. These words also aptly describe retail's woes in delivering orders to the consumer.
Nearly half of merchants selling goods on Amazon.com said in a recent survey that the marketplace makes up 80 percent or more of their sales, while home and kitchen goods was the most popular category, reported by 18 percent of respondents.
Meeting the increasingly high demands of e-commerce customers and helping shippers drive efficiency in their fulfillment operations were two of the main themes as UPS and Sealed Air jointly unveiled their packaging innovation center.
In line with the hyper growth of e-commerce activity there, Amazon is expanding its operations in India by adding seven new fulfillment centers. MoneyControl.com reported that Amazon India plans to invest $5bn in its facilities by the end of June.
United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest delivery company, is pushing back against major retailers who order up capacity for vast numbers of packages during the holidays but don't meet their forecasts.
After more than five decades selling women's clothing, Limited Stores Co. filed for bankruptcy early this year and closed its 250 stores nationwide, including several in Southern California malls where dozens of employees lost their jobs.