Consumer electronics purchases are driving up this year's total average back-to-school shopping total by 26 percent, according to the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.
How much electricity is all of retail's e-commerce, big-data analytics and mobile shopping devouring? No one has calculated that, but a report out this month argues that all IT now consumes about 10 percent of the world's electricity.
The growth of e-commerce is causing a "headache" for the retail sector because it is sucking up supply chain professionals, according to a report. The Talent Spotlight, produced by recruiter Badenoch and Clark, said talent is "flocking" to e-commerce firms and leaving the wider retail sector with tough-to-fill vacancies.
The global market for warehouse management systems grew by 8 percent in 2012. Growth was broad-based, occurring in both well-established and emerging market segments. The WMS replacement cycle is responsible for much of the recent growth in the mature segments. As this dynamic diminishes, more enduring factors will propel future market growth. These factors include expanded adoption of WMS add-on modules, additional upgrades due to the benefits delivered by supply chain execution platforms, and increased demand driven by the omni-channel retail paradigm.
Offering customers free same-day delivery has long been an elusive goal for e-tailers. Their motivation is simple: If e-tailers can give customers the near-instant gratification of buying in a store, they can eliminate one of the most powerful advantages held by their bricks-and-mortar competitors. Alas, costs and complexity have largely kept same-day delivery (defined here as delivery between sunup and sundown on a weekday) out of reach and, at best, a niche offering.
Walmart's second quarter sales climbed 2.1 percent to $68.7bn, driven by omnichannel investments in ecommerce logistics, updated mobile applications, expanded online inventory, products available for pick-up in store and rolling out fulfillment capabilities to an increasing number of supercenters.
The investigative arm of Congress is going to look into how the Obama administration developed its increased monetary estimate for the amount of damage caused by carbon pollution.
As populous countries such as Brazil, China and India develop increasingly acquisitive middle classes, opportunities for online sales to these countries are growing. Except for small mom-and-pop outlets, the brick-and-mortar retail sectors are poorly developed outside of major cities. Consumers in these and many other developing countries are looking online for more choices in apparel, electronics, and luxury goods.
Lowe's Companies announced its acquisition of the majority of assets of Orchard Supply Hardware has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Lowe's will acquire 72 Orchard stores for approximately $205m in cash, plus the assumption of payables owed to nearly all of Orchard's supplier partners. Lowe's expects to close the transaction by the end of August.
While today's workers are increasingly relying on the use of mobile devices to do their work, mobile technologies are being used not only for ensuring effective communication, but also for tasks that were previously performed at the desk during business hours.
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