Warehouse Management

Earlier this year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2021 retail sales forecast. NRF expects retail sales to rise between 6.5 percent and 8.2 percent over 2020, which equates to a $4.33 trillion uptick. This prediction hinges on the success of COVID-19 vaccinations and the re-opening of the economy, but should it play out,…

Consumer behavior has been evolving over time, but never has it changed so rapidly in such a short period as it did in 2020. COVID-19 almost single-handedly forced consumers to embrace online shopping, as many physical stores shut down or reduced hours to comply with COVID-19 mandates. Consumers turned to online retailers for everything from…

Several Amazon.com sellers are concerned over a recent policy change, CNBC reported. The policy is meant to help the e-commerce giant save space in its warehouses as it faces a pandemic-fueled surge in online orders alongside the usual peak holiday shopping season. In August, Amazon announced it would be enforcing stricter quantity limits on shipments from…

Online retailers are facing a major capacity crisis this holiday season. Since COVID-19 hit, reduced headcount and social distancing practices within the walls of warehouses and distribution centers mean retail businesses are already struggling to manage the stresses and strains of increased e-commerce demand. Capacity issues are largely linked to an inability to process sudden…

Daily trends and hashtags tend to inject buzzwords and phrases into the public zeitgeist at a moment's notice. One day, the scandal of the moment attracts the dreaded “-gate” suffix, and the next day, a novel term like "coronavirus" is all anyone can talk about. Warehouse automation doesn't carry near the number of implications as…

Home Depot announced Tuesday that it will open three distribution centers in the Atlanta area over the next 18 months to keep up with rising customer expectations for fast order deliveries, which have only been amplified since the pandemic. Home Depot has scrambled to meet customers’ demand for speed and convenience. It began rolling out curbside…

While retail industry innovation efforts may be paused during this unprecedented time of social distancing and economic turmoil, a study involving blockchain, radio frequency identification (RFID), and global data standards provided a glimpse into the potentially remarkable capabilities of emerging technology to help solve supply chain challenges. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Auburn University…

Amazon.com plans to offer permanent jobs to about 70 percent of the U.S. workforce it has hired temporarily to meet consumer demand during the coronavirus pandemic, the company told Reuters on Thursday. The world’s largest online retailer will begin telling 125,000 warehouse employees that they can keep their roles longer term. The remaining 50,000 workers…

Retail organizations began taking necessary steps in the last couple of weeks to protect their employees and customers from the growing spread of the coronavirus by closing their brick-and-mortar stores. Now certain retailers are taking the further step of closing their e-commerce sites as states' stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders are preventing them from fulfilling online orders. For example,…

As e-commerce evolves, customer expectations to get what they want — when, where, and how they want it — will only continue to intensify and further challenge brands in 2020 and beyond. The times when search and price were the only criteria for purchasing decisions are gone, and retailers today need airtight e-commerce strategies that…