Shipping

E-commerce sales rose steadily the first half of 2022, with sales increasing 2.7 percent between Q1 and Q2. But even with the coming holiday sales surge, that trend might not continue. In fact, some reports predict that the number of online orders this holiday season will be down 5 percent compared to 2021. Why? And…

In episode 378 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Nathan Sanders, CEO of Brook Furniture Rental, an industry leader in home and office furniture rentals. Sanders discusses Brook Furniture Rental's recent expansion from its core B-to-B business into direct-to-consumer selling (0:52), how both consumer and business customers can order from the company (4:13), and…

Walgreens announced on Thursday a 24/7 delivery service, offering delivery from nearly 400 stores in as little as an hour. Participating 24-hour Walgreens stores will offer more than 27,000 items, from groceries to over-the-counter medications to household essentials like toothbrushes and skincare products. The new service does comes with some exceptions, most notably around the delivery time. The…

Saks OFF 5TH is enhancing its online shopping experience with the launch of Guaranteed Delivery Date, a real-time calculated delivery date throughout the shopping journey for thousands of items available on SaksOFF5TH.com. Customers no longer have to wait until their order is shipped to have visibility into arrival date. With Guaranteed Delivery Date, customers will now…

Adapt or fail. That's a choice retailers are often forced to make given the pace of change in the world today — especially when it comes to logistics. It's more important now than ever for retail leaders to ensure critical aspects of business, like their fulfillment operations and last mile delivery, are streamlined. Fortunately, this…

UPS has followed the lead of its chief competitor, FedEx, in announcing that rates for its Ground, Air and International services will increase by an average of 6.9 percent effective Dec. 27, according to the company’s website. Furthermore, UPS announced higher accessorial charges effective on the same date, including for residential deliveries, packages requiring additional handling, and deliveries to…

The proliferation of on-demand delivery services has dramatically increased the degree of convenience that customers experience in the purchasing process. For merchants, however, the expectation for on-demand delivery has dramatically increased the complexity of their fulfillment processes. Whether the products being delivered are prescriptions, groceries, pet supplies or pizza, getting them to the designated location…

For last mile delivery companies, now is prime time to start preparing for what's expected to be a busy holiday season. In addition to continued growth in online sales, there are a lot of other factors to consider, including how to address extenuating factors such as gas prices, labor shortages, and continued supply chain delays…

It's hard to overestimate the reach that Amazon.com has these days. What started as an online book retailer has become more than a marketplace; it's a place for market solutions. Love it or hate it, Amazon is truly a phenomenon of the 21st century. It’s not like Amazon is slowing down, either. Recently, it added same-day…

The retail supply chain has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of disruption for the last three years. From coping with the fallout of COVID-19 to navigating the shifting landscape as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the retail industry has had to constantly lurch from one priority to the next to find some sort…