Shopify Inc., a cloud-based, multichannel commerce platform, has partnered with Uber to offer UberRUSH delivery services to Shopify merchants. Merchants enrolled in the program can offer their local customers same-day delivery. The UberRUSH program will begin with a select number of Shopify merchants located in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco and will be rolled out to additional cities over time.

The growth of e-commerce increases consumer choice and flexibility, but it also challenges distribution centers to keep pace with consumers' higher expectations for faster and more accurate delivery. Nearly nine in 10 distribution center operators expect to adopt new mobile devices and voice-direction technology in the next five years to meet that need, according to a survey by Honeywell and YouGov.

With supply chain collaboration becoming a hot topic for even the most independent, self-sufficient organizations, it's no wonder that more attention is being paid to the relationships between distributors and their suppliers.

Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, has acquired M33 Integrated, a third-party logistics provider with strength in the packaging, chemical and advanced materials sectors.

Retailers should be bracing themselves for heightened delivery expectations of so-called Generation Z, those individuals born after the late 1990s, whose media-saturated world has accustomed to them to instant access to things.