Shipping

E-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers are caught in a vortex of clamor about inflation, a potential economic downturn, and what some expect to be a shopping slowdown. At the same time, research shows there’s reason to be hopeful. Even if shoppers pump the brakes on spending, retail sales are still likely to increase some 4 percent…

For online retailers, the last mile is a critical element to the customer’s overall brand experience, covering the entire spectrum from website browsing to purchasing a product and, finally, to receiving a delivery. While the last mile is critically important to the customer’s brand experience, it contributes an estimated 53 percent to the total shipping…

Amazon.com is reportedly expanding ultrafast delivery options and devoting more resources to facilities and services structured to deliver packages to customers in less than a day, according to a Feb. 26 report in The Wall Street Journal. The expansions are happening at a crucial point for Amazon, which faces competition for fast delivery options while CEO Andy…

Target announced this week that it will spend $100 million to build a larger network of supply chain hubs to speed up and lower the cost of delivering online orders. The retailer plans to have at least 15 of the facilities, dubbed sortation centers, by the end of January 2026. It already has opened nine…

Throughout much of the past few years, the shipping and logistics industry has been focused on a cascade of supply chain crises, most notably long lines of ships waiting to dock at major ports and a dearth of trucks and railroad cars to move their cargo. In 2022, the logjams started easing and a railroad…

It seems like every week this winter there's an announcement about a closed freeway due to a blizzard and South Florida is still cleaning up the devastation caused by hurricane Ian, especially when it comes to the supply chain. With today’s climate changes and challenges, it’s very likely that other weather emergencies like hurricanes, tornadoes,…

Despite record levels of inflation and rising interest rates, there’s good news for retailers: holiday spending was forecasted to be healthy. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), holiday retail sales in the U.S. during November and December were expected to increase 6 percent to 8 percent from 2021 levels to between $942.6 billion and…

The e-commerce industry is heading into a year of rapid change and potential uncertainty, as labor and capacity issues could intensify or ease, carrier and rail strike concerns could reemerge, and fuel prices and shipping surcharges might be a crapshoot. Plus, ever-evolving technologies, strategies and innovations make keeping up with customers’ expectations increasingly difficult. However,…

Delivery expectations have surged since the beginning of the pandemic, requiring innovative solutions to make shopping easier for the customer, regardless of what they’re buying. Delivery also plays a major role in customer purchasing decisions, especially during the holiday season. According to Oracle, 47 percent of global shoppers say the time it takes to get…

In peak season 2022, the top priority for many small to midsized businesses (SMBs) isn’t keeping up with dwindling inventories or navigating pandemic-impacted supply chains, it’s saving money. ShipStation data found that most merchants will cut costs this season by increasing delivery fees and decreasing delivery speeds for the end consumer. However, SMBs that take…