Success in marketing to U.S. millennials"”the generation of people now 18 to 34 years old"”will be critical to companies across product and service categories. One reason, of course, is that millennials represent the consumer market of the future.
The Home Depot's ongoing supply chain transformation last year included the opening of 20 new distribution centers, improved inventory turns and lower costs, all achieved while supporting double-digit growth. Charles Armstrong, vice president of supply chain distribution, highlights these accomplishments.
Import volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to grow 4.8 percent in January over the same month last year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. Estimates show 2013 up 2.8 percent over 2012.
Widespread delays to Christmas deliveries made headlines over the holiday season. But while carriers like UPS and even FedEx were quick to apologize, a new study suggests they may be shouldering a disproportionate amount of the blame. Kurt Salmon found that the majority of delays experienced in their analysis of holiday shipping and delivery dates were the fault of retailers, not carriers.
The future of mobile is here, or at least available to grocery shoppers as Safeway and Giant Eagle roll out Apple's iBeacon, the location-sensing technology that connects to shoppers iOS devices and sends product suggestions and messages while inside the store.
The boom in e-commerce and the rising use of the internet will bring boom-time conditions to the industrial property sector in Australia in the coming year, according to logistics leasing experts.
The seventh annual Holiday Shopping Study from Motorola Solutions Inc. finds that overall in-store satisfaction has grown 23 percent in the last six years. Meanwhile, satisfaction with the checkout process and the availability of store associates has increased 32 percent and 23 percent, respectively, since 2008. Retailers need to continue to offer choice and options to shoppers across all channels - online, in-store and mobile. Shoppers also reported a dramatic increase in use of their smartphones for shopping-related activities including mobile couponing.
With excessive packaging as the top complaint of customers, Staples found a technology that created the right size box for every item shipped from its e-commerce centers. In doing so, it wins the annual Supply Chain Innovation Award, sponsored by SupplyChainBrain and CSCMP.