Today's shippers are done talking about collaborative freight solutions and are ready to allocate resources to design and implement programs that can scale, says Ben Cubitt, senior vice president for consulting and engineering of Transplace. He describes the role that 3PLs can play in such projects.
Technology has empowered customers in such a way that they are now in charge of the business relationship - a fact that's left many businesses playing catch-up. Companies and supply chains that fail to realize this risk losing customers if they don't respond to their needs.
A new study of Pinterest users by market research firm Lab42 finds that 54 percent spend more time on the site during the holidays and 94 percent say it has changed the way they make their holiday preparations. And people are turning to Pinterest to share ideas"”42 percent have a holiday-themed board.
Building 3D value chains is perhaps the first among the top 10 trends that analysts at IDC Manufacturing Insights see for the manufacturing sector in 2014.
Amazon's announcement of Sunday delivery effectively turned the traditional e-commerce world upside down. It truly is a game-changer, not only for online retailers but also for brick-and-mortar stores that are battling for their share of sales this holiday season.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are key drivers of growth in Asia, but they are hindered by inadequate access to finance, particularly from large banks. However, the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI) has developed a framework for helping banks to tap into this vast market.
Shrink, consisting of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors, cost the retail industry more than $112bn globally last year, according to the 2012-2013 Global Retail Theft Barometer, and represented 1.4 percent of retail sales, on average.
With almost 28 percent unemployment and a lingering recession that's wiped out one-fourth of their country's economic output, it makes sense that Greek consumers plan to trim their Christmas spending by 12.8 percent this year. What's more surprising is that the average Greek budget for holiday gifts, food, and drink is €451 ($608)"”more than the €399 average in Germany, the country that has borne much of the cost of a Greek bailout.
Despite the shortest shopping season since 2002, Adobe Systems predicts record growth for online sales on Thanksgiving with $1.1bn and Black Friday with $1.6bn, increases of 21 and 17 percent, respectively.
Plastic bags that can stop bread and cheese from going moldy after just a few days have been developed by scientists. The technology, which uses chemicals that prevent bacteria and fungi from growing, allows food to last for longer.
