Operations & Fulfillment

Retailers have spent decades getting better at predicting demand. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holidays gave businesses major moments on the calendar they could prepare for months in advance. From ordering inventory to planning promotions and preparing operations, they knew what to expect. While those events still matter, retailers now face a new challenge:…

Across the nation, U.S. businesses are continuing to navigate supply chain disruptions, affecting sourcing, inventory, costs and product availability. A myriad of factors have fueled this disruption, not least geopolitical turmoil and extreme weather events, alongside changes in trade policy and continued evolution of global sourcing networks. With geopolitical uncertainty and extreme weather events likely…

A new era of innovation has arrived. U.S. stocks and bonds are tokenizing, as are most asset classes. Accredited, institutional and retail participants are now engaging 24/7/365 trading markets, lower costs, and the death of incumbents. B2B payments are becoming faster, cheaper and more transparent via digital assets on blockchain rails. What does this mean…

Walmart has announced that it will invest about $6 billion during the next several years to expand automated technologies with technology partner Symbotic across 25 U.S. distribution centers (DCs). The expanded agreement also supports ongoing investment in Walmart’s global supply chain capabilities, the two companies said. The retailer plans to bring additional automation capabilities to…

Finance leaders at retail organizations that run their own trucks, moving product from distribution centers to stores and from stores to customers' doors, are being asked to defend EBITDA, justify capital allocation decisions, and protect shareholder returns using data that was never designed to answer those questions. Fleet investments are a significant capital commitment, competing…

If there’s one thing warehouses don’t lack, it’s data. In fact, e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com ingest upward of 50 million data points per week. Management can now access every statistic they could possibly want. Every pick, every pack, every movement, every location, recorded. What’s the average pick speed? Who is meeting productivity goals? Where…

Retailers operating transportation and distribution fleets are asked, more often than ever, to evaluate a crowded telematics market before committing to a platform. Selecting a telematics provider has now become one of the most important technology decisions these retailers make, not because telematics itself is new, but because each platform offers a different mix of…

Supply chain inefficiencies can be easier to absorb when demand is strong and predictable. However, when demand shifts quickly or supply is disrupted, those same inefficiencies become much harder to manage. Consumer products companies are dealing with shoppers whose preferences can change quickly, pressure to keep products available across channels, and supply networks where disruptions…

The holiday shopping season has always required careful planning, but this year many retailers have started preparing much earlier than usual. Import volumes surged this summer as companies accelerated orders ahead of potential tariff changes and ongoing trade uncertainty. At first glance, it may appear that retailers are bracing for widespread shortages or another round…

Retail leaders aren't short on enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, but they are short on certainty about how to use it. A recent poll of supply chain and logistics professionals found that only 29 percent are currently deploying AI to support real, operational decisions. The largest group, 37 percent, describe themselves as actively exploring how AI…