Mike Perkins, vice president of fulfillment and manufacturing with L.L. Bean, explains how the company was able to postpone building a new distribution center, despite an increase in sales.
Ahold USA plans to launch a vendor collaboration initiative next month that will include sending POS, supply chain and merchandising data via a third-party to some number of its CPG suppliers in order to improve product availability and customer satisfaction.
Cool Logistics Resources and The Loadstar have launched The Coolstar, a website containing news, analysis, commentary and research for perishable supply chain, logistics and transportation professionals.
Same-day delivery from major e-commerce and multichannel retailers during the 2012 holiday season introduced e-commerce as a viable option, even for last-minute shoppers. This evolution in customer demand now ripples through the supply chain for all retailers, prompting executives to re-evaluate real estate strategies, according to a new report from Jones Lang LaSalle.
A global research study by Oracle has found that brands could lose as much as 20 percent of their annual revenue due to poor customer service, with 95 percent of executives agreeing that delivering a great customer experience is critical to business results.
President Obama didn't mention the word "retail" a single time in his State of the Union address. But retailers could nonetheless be widely impacted by proposals put forth in the annual speech to Congress, ranging from promises to create jobs and grow the economy to a plan to increase the federal minimum wage that is drawing headlines this morning.
E-commerce sales in B2C soared to new heights in 2012. According to eMarketer.com, e-commerce sales topped $1tr for the first time. The B2C sales grew from 21.1 percent last year to $1tr. This year, sales are expected to grow from 18.3 percent to $1.2tr worldwide. According to eMarketer, it is estimated that Asia-Pacific has surpassed North America to become the No. 1 market for B2C e-commerce sales.
Is it a waste of time to make economic forecasts? Even the most respected prognosticators are wrong as often as they're right. And the most sweeping changes? Hardly anyone ever sees them coming.
Brent Beabout, senior vice president of supply chain with Office Depot, describes how the company slashed packaging waste by switching from corrugated cardboard to paper bags for deliveries to consumers and business. A finalist in the Supply Chain Innovation of the Year competition.
