Courier DHL and German retailers Otto and Tchibo are taking part in a new scheme that aims to cut plastic waste and CO2 emissions through reusable packaging. The Praxpack initiative, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is a three-year project which will see products being sent in (more…)
DPD is rolling out a new charging grid for its electric vehicles in the UK, allowing it to expand its fleet. The courier is working with Rolec EV, a manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) charge points, to install the network across its 60 UK distribution centres. The charge points will (more…)
UPS has opened a new highly automated facility in the Netherlands which will help it to serve the western Europe region. Called a superhub, the 27000 square metre facility at Eindhoven will be able to sort up to 29000 packages per hour. In the future UPS said this could expand (more…)
Like many other couriers, DPD is forging a deeper connection with the end consumer via the likes of mobile apps – but the company’s UK marketing director Tim Jones says in an exclusive interview that this is not intended to replace or challenge the retailer-customer relationship. “It’s the e-shippers or (more…)
Ittay Hayut, CEO at hoopo, weighs up different connectivity protocols such as GPS and LPWA and how they might enable supply chain IoT. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been heralded as a saviour of the retail supply chain industry for some time. The benefits of product tracking and (more…)
The warehouse management system (WMS) market is set to be worth $5 billion worldwide by 2025 as ecommerce drives demand, according to a new report. ABI Research predicted that the period will show a compound annual growth rate of 13.9%, with 57,000 new warehouses being added due to pressure to (more…)
Ecommerce platform Shopify has introduced its own fulfilment option for merchants in the US. Shopify Fulfillment Network is billed as an end-to-end service, taking care of everything from the customer completing a purchase to the delivery. The company said alongside a number of fulfilment centres the service would take advantage (more…)
John Lewis is expanding a service allowing customers to return products to Waitrose drivers across the country. The service, which was previously trialled in 21 shops last year, allows customers to hand John Lewis ecommerce parcels to a Waitrose grocery delivery driver. There is no extra charge for using the (more…)
Zalando customers in Italy will be able to click and return items to local post offices as the fashion giant partners with Poste Italiane. The option is available through an existing service on the Zalando web portal which allows customers to book a home pick-up of parcels. The drop-off service (more…)
The Mayor of London has laid out plans to build electric vehicle charge points across the UK’s capital, potentially paving the way for wider adoption by retailers. The London EV Infrastructure Delivery Plan plan announced by Sadiq Khan’s administration will see five rapid charging hubs installed across the city. It (more…)
Ocado is expanding into the US as it builds its first automated warehouse for supermarket giant Kroger. The companies have begun work on their first US customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Southwest Ohio, with the site set to become operational in spring 2021. Kroger has invested a total of $55 (more…)
Leanne Hamley, head of talent acquisition and development at Hermes, discusses the company’s processes for finding and investing in the right staff. Buoyed by the phenomenal growth of ecommerce, home delivery companies cannot afford to stand still when it comes to investing in their network of hubs and depots, their fleet (more…)
Lidl has expanded its Irish home grocery delivery service to new counties. The discount retailer’s partnership with Irish start-up Bumie, which offers personalised online grocery deliveries, will expand to new towns in the counties of Kildare and Wicklow. It will reach an addition 40,000 local households in the towns of (more…)
UPS took a data-driven approach to introduce machine vision solutions to the problem of jams in its automated facilities, its enterprise director of advanced analytics explained in a presentation this week. Mohammed Chaara told the audience at the AI Summit in London that the company had generated a solution for (more…)
Morrisons is set to expand its same-day grocery delivery service with Amazon, taking advantage of a recent change to its deal with Ocado. The “Morrisons at Amazon” service, which gives Prime customers same-day or one-hour delivery in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and parts of London, is set to expand. 2019 will (more…)
UPS has teamed up with a UK software company to launch a new click and collect solution in the US. London-based HubBox will provide check-out software for the parcel giant’s click and collect service. The software, which is compatible with all ecommerce platforms, will provide a user-friendly way for customers (more…)
eDelivery rounds up some of the main ecommerce logistics stories of the last week. FedEx ends Amazon contract FedEx will allow its contract with Amazon for US express delivery services to expire come 30 June. The decision does not affect contracts outside the US in other countries or for (more…)
Ocado has announced investments in two farming companies with the goal of bringing the farming process closer to consumers and increasing deliver speed. The online grocer has formed a joint venture with vertical farming solutions companies 80 Acres Farms and Priva called Infinite Acres. The venture will provide a number (more…)
Waitrose is expanding its two-hour grocery delivery service beyond London to two new UK towns. Waitrose Rapid Delivery will be available in Bath from 8 July and Hove from 15 July. It will also expand to a further 58 postcodes in London including Battersea, Victoria and Kingston. The service allows (more…)
Electric vehicles are gaining in popularity as the overwhelming majority of van operators revealed in a survey they plan to use them in their fleets this year. According to the survey by the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and Santander 71.4% of van operators plan to use electric vehicles in their (more…)